The important questions of life on the MTA

In the interests of some lighthearted fun, some questions:

Novice level:
My friends and I grew up asking "Why didn't Charlie's wife just hand him a nickel?" Answers to this question are welcome.

Advanced level
Why didn't Charlie's wife just walk over to a surface stop near Lechemere Sq so she didn't have to pay her own fare?

Expert level:
Wait. They weren't charging exit fares in the subway, were they? Charlie could just have gotten off at Park and gone home to Kendall. Discuss.

Special for equipment fans:
Was Charlie on a PCC? Type 5? Other? Why do you think so?

OK, I'll bite:

Novice: One could go to so many places with this, but being a family-accessible site I will settle for presumably paying for herself to enter the subway and hand him a sandwich versus giving him a nickle and thus allowing him to return home and putting up with him every day might have been considered a worthy investment?

Advanced: Through routing from Cambridge/Somerville streetcar lines to the subway at Lechmere ended in 1922, and those surface lines were converted to trackless or bus long before The MTA Song was written (1949). She would have had to transfer and pay an additional fare.

Expert: Yes. At the time the MTA's fare policy was very complex. requiring a fifteen page booklet to explain all of the nuances, and it included apparently recently implemented exit fare requirements. This policy was a catalyst for creating the song in the first place, since it was one of Boston mayoral candidate Walter A. O'Brien's campaign promises to simplify the MTA's fare policy and get rid of the exit fare.

Special: In 1949, Type 5s would still be somewhat rare on subway routes. There were some Type 4s remaining which would largely be phased out in the coming year, but there were over 300 PCCs in service by then, too. Without knowing specifically the car assignments and allocations at Lotus Place in 1949, I would say 50-50 chance between a PCC and a Type 4. Question is, did she somehow fit the sandwich in between the window guards or hand it to him at an open door? (and ignoring for the moment the question of what he was doing going through Scollay in the first place, which was not on the direct route between Kendall and Jamaica Plain)

"...through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich..."

Re: Equipment, she hands Charlie the sandwich as the "train" comes rumbling through. So I'd lean towards either a train of PCCs or perhaps a Type 4 with Center Entrance trailer if that was still a thing then.

Per a page on MIT site: "In the 1940s, the MTA fare-schedule was very complicated - at one time, the booklet that explained it was 9 pages long. Fare increases were implemented by means of an "exit fare". Rather than modify all the turnstiles for the new rate, they just collected the extra money when leaving the train. (Prior to the introduction electronic fare collection in the mid-2000s, exit fares existed on the Braintree branch of the Red Line.) One of the key points of the platform of Walter A. O'Brien, a Progressive Party candidate for mayor of Boston, was to fight fare increases and make the fare schedule more uniform. Charlie was born. . . . Charlie's Route

Of course, one has to estimate Charlie's route given that the MBTA has changed dramatically between 1949 and the current day, but I have compiled what I imagine is a fairly accurate route:

Kendall Square -> Park Street -> Arborway
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station
that's pretty self-explanatory
and he changed for Jamaica Plain
As far as I know, there was no stop called "Jamaica Plain", so that line means that Charlie changed to a train going in the general direction of JP. The only lines that go anywhere near Jamaica Plain are the E branch of the Green line and the Orange Line.
The Red line from Kendall Square connects to both the Green and Orange lines, however in the next step, you'll see why he didn't take the Orange Line.
Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square Station..
Scollay (pronounced 'Scully') Square Station is the old name for Government Center, which is on the Green Line. When Charlie got to his stop on the E-line, he couldn't get off without paying the five cents. So, they kept him on the train, which would have eventually gone through the loop at Arborway and returned to the line, probably passing through Scollay Square." Credit to author: https://www.mit.edu/~jdreed/t/charlie.html

Of course, we don't know what he did once he got back to the subway. At that point he could have transferred to any line at any of the six transfer stations. For all we know, his wife met him at Scollay Under and he was on a #1 EBT car...

There was the Tremont St Line, but Charlie was probably stuck on the Arborway Line. Were there exit fares on all trains? If not he could have just gone back to Park St and got off. Or snuck off after the end of service, but that would be illegal and Charlie was all about obeying rules. His wife would only have enough money to make a sandwich, so she had less than a nickel, otherwise she would have handed him a nickel. "As the train goes rumbling through" implication is she is standing on a subway platform that doesn't have a fare gate, but the train isn't stopping. Did they have flag stops in 1949? Perhaps she is at Mechanics (Hall Station) or Symphony? I think we can assume she hands Charlie his sandwich while the train has stopped. But what kind of a sandwich? Is it peanut butter and jelly on Wonder Bread? How does Charlie's wife get to a station that isn't near Kendall Square, assuming they live in Cambridge?

Maybe Charlie worked for one of the companies in Central Square, a company like Boston Woven Hose and Rubber, and lived in JP. That makes a lot more sense.

Well, Charlie would starve today, because according to a recent universalhub.com story, it's now illegal to eat or drink on the T:
https://www.universalhub.com/2023/who-k ... d-dont-you

It's not illegal. It's discouraged. The specific word is "avoid" which does not mean "prohibited"

BandA wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 5:53 pm But what kind of a sandwich? Is it peanut butter and jelly on Wonder Bread? How does Charlie's wife get to a station that isn't near Kendall Square, assuming they live in Cambridge?

This is easy, it was a Fluffernutter sandwich (duh) and she must have come from Somerville, where Fluffernutter was invented.

I'm still looking for another "Walter" who is better knows as "George". Mr O'Brien is the only one I've found so far

Why would the Transit Authority keep someone, who obviously could not pay, on board?

I do kind of wonder what the MTA actually did when someone couldn't pay the exit fare. Make them ride back to where they came from (unproveable)? Take them to the end of the line? Take them back to the other end of the line? Take them downtown? Let them out but give them a fine ticket, or a scolding?

Rbts Stn wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 3:03 am
I'm still looking for another "Walter" who is better knows as "George". Mr O'Brien is the only one I've found so far

Walter A. O'Brien ran for mayor of Boston as a Progressive Party candidate. The Progressive Party was a leftist party and was widely suspected of having ties to the Communist Party USA.

Walter was never called George; rather, the Kingston Trio chose to use the name George because they feared being accused of Communist sympathies, and wanted to distance themselves from singers like Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson, who were actual members of the Communist Party. So, the Trio decided to sing about a fictional George O'Brien instead of the actual Walter O'Brien.

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:08 am

Rbts Stn wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 3:03 am
I'm still looking for another "Walter" who is better knows as "George". Mr O'Brien is the only one I've found so far

Walter A. O'Brien ran for mayor of Boston as a Progressive Party candidate. The Progressive Party was a leftist party and was widely suspected of having ties to the Communist Party USA.

Walter was never called George; rather, the Kingston Trio chose to use the name George because they feared being accused of Communist sympathies, and wanted to distance themselves from singers like Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson, who were actual members of the Communist Party. So, the Trio decided to sing about a fictional George O'Brien instead of the actual Walter O'Brien.

You are correct and I am correct. Unless one knows the history, one thinks the candidate's name was George, so that is what he is better known as.

Kingston Trio still performs to this day. The three musicians occupy the same space as the originals did