Recently, BoltBus announced that it would be entering the low-cost bus fray. And now another company, Megabus, would like to be at your service for your rides to New York City. From the New York Times: Two-year-old Megabus.com, a subsidiary of Coach USA, is based in Paramus, N.J., and is structured much like Southwest and other low-cost airlines. Tickets are sold on the Internet and by telephone, with the best deals for those who buy......

--An MBTA bus driver lost control of his bus this morning in Revere. The driver suffered from an unspecified ailment and went to the hospital, along with two passengers. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald] --A 5-year-old boy died choking on an object while on a school bus in Marlborough yesterday. [WBZ] --A UMass-Lowell student was hit by a truck as she waited for a bus. Police said that this driver might have had an unspecified......

Update: WBZ has pictures of an SUV crashing into the bus. Another car plowed into the back of the car that hit the bus. The people involved were lucky--only three people on the bus and four in the SUV were hit. --A car hit an MBTA bus this afternoon while the bus was on American Legion Highway and Mount Hope Road. Three people on the bus went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. [Boston......

--A new company, FlexPetz, will let you rent a dog for a few hours so you can enjoy canine companionship without getting up in the cold to walk the critter. Wouldn't it be great if you could just rent human companionship for a few hours? Oh, wait. That's illegal. Nevermind. [Boston Globe] --Wondering why there are so many kids running around today? Seventy drivers called in sick or took a personal day today, and about......

Due to red tape, the Vamoose bus, which Bostonist had written about recently, is no longer allowed to run from Cambridge to New York City. Vamoose didn't get a jitney license that lets them pick up and drop off passengers, the Crimson reports. This is such a letdown when it comes to cheap buses, especially now that the Peter Pan drivers are earning a reputation for douchebaggery. Vamoose was even supposed to have wireless. The......

Ahhh … BPD News is back. However, somebody hit "Publish" a few times, and the "Daily Incidents for Wednesday, December 12" appears several times. No matter, welcome back! And how could we resist a headline like "Do You Want to Tell the Police This?" A man marched into Roxbury B-2 on Wednesday night to tell police that he took a ride in an illegal cab. While in the cab, he and a friend decided to......

--One would think that Boston would be prepared to handle snow. But it isn't a good sign when headlines read "what went wrong." [Boston Globe] --It also isn't a good sign when kids don't get home until 11:30 pm because of the weather. [Boston Globe] --A mistrial has been declared in the second trial for Alexander Pring-Wilson, who was convicted of manslaughter for the 2003 stabbing of Michael Colono in Cambridge, but who was granted......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. And here it is--the complete list of T stops with the most distinct odors: Aquarium: High tide, dolphin pee Airport: Pleather luggage,......

--Maybe Fung Wah isn't so bad after all. The local press picked up on a b0st0n LiveJournal story that a Peter Pan bus driver felt that his passengers on a trip to Boston should be punished and forced to stay on the bus in Framingham because one of them called the company about his poor driving. The driver's sorry ass is about to get fired. [WBZ, Globe, b0st0n Live Journal] --Female parking enforcement officers......

If you dare to venture out that way--and you may not want to after this morning and the storm that is coming in--Green Line Service is back up. Or, in the lingo of the T alert system: "Green Line service is running with residual delays as a result of an earlier medical emergency at Boylston station." If you hadn't already heard, Trolleys Collide, Closing Green Line This Morning A side note: A commenter let us......

With Boston as perhaps the world’s foremost college town, a large part of our population is staring down Fall Semester’s final exams. For some, this period is little more than another opportunity to display a sharp mind. For others, however, exam period is one of struggle, frustration, and pain. To this latter group we suggest an alternative: Just go back to high school. It’s been done before… A twenty-five-year old Kenneth Lickiss took a Greyhound......

It's official. You can now put Charlie in your cell phone or on your computer. The T has a big, fat announcement on its home page, featuring an image of a gleeful woman. She's happy now, but she hasn't seen the charges that will result from all her text messages. Anyway, Bostonist has signed up. You can choose the "mode of service" you prefer: commuter rail, subway, bus, silver line, and boat. (Thank goodness......

--Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of Ted Kennedy and JFK, mother to Maria Shriver, and mother-in-law to Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been hospitalized at Mass General, although no one is saying why. She is 86. [Boston Globe] --Today marks the last day of Bob's Southern Bistro and the opening of some generic swanky watering hole. [WBZ] --With the departure of the infamous Mark Flomenbaum, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is disinfecting its hazardous practices by......

-- Buy Nothing Day turnout was discouragingly high. Retailers worry that consumers will not continue not to buy nothing. -- Red Sox season ticket holders are scumbag profiteers shrewd financial wizards who sell tickets they don't own yet. -- “Mitt Romney is throwing this very capable judge under the bus for his own political ends,” said Ed Ryan, head of a Massachusetts bar association task force on fair and impartial courts. “It is gutless.” --......

Did you know the MBTA has a "Civil Disturbance Unit" on wheels that is designed to restrain and transport public-transit perps? We didn't, either. David Abel of the Globe describes the MBTA's ride, which has been in use since May: The large, jet-black bus has four surveillance cameras on its roof trained in every direction, and looks like the kind of tool an authoritarian regime might use to scare or scoop up dissidents and other......

With Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, the time has come to focus on travel options. Vamoose buses now offer WiFi access and guaranteed seating, but perhaps it is time to take another look at its oft-maligned competitor, the Fung Wah Bus. Established ten years ago, Fung Wah, which is Cantonese for “magnificent wind,” has gained notoriety for buses slamming into guard rails and getting stuck in a toll booth. But even with these occasional......

Or at least they need some sensitivity training. Via Universal Hub, we hear Harper's Ferry has some real racist assholes on its staff. There's one guy who was begging to be fired after insulting black hip-hop performer Bus Driver last week. Bus Driver promptly refused to perform, and the other act, Daedalus, followed suit. Etan at Basstown spoke with Regan Farquhar (aka Bus Driver) and his DJ. They say the sound guy at Harper's Ferry......

--A second MBTA-related noose incident: A black conductor found a noose on the floor of a Red Line cab before Halloween. [Boston Herald] --Roberto Pulido, crooked cop extraordinaire who inspired one of the Herald's most salacious covers, is now blaming steroids for his behavior. [Boston Globe] --A bus driver from Martha's Vineyard won $10 million smackers in the Massachusetts State Lottery. [Boston Herald] --Some UMass-Amherst students are attempting a boycott. [Boston Herald] --Elsewhere in......

--Police Commissioner Edward Davis has reacted to the information that corruption in the Boston Police Department might have extended beyond former officer Roberto Pulido and his sketchy crew. He even put a video on YouTube declaring that he will investigate the allegations. He said, "I will continue to press for the strictest sanctions against police corruption so that the excellent police work that I see every day from our officers will not be tarnished."......

In honor of the mother of all football matchups, which will take place when the New England Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday afternoon, Bostonist is going to compare the coaches and the quarterbacks. First up is a comparison of Pats coach Bill Belichick, known on Bostonist as the "Sexy Beast," and Colts coach Tony Dungy. When you consider the coaching talents of Bill Belichick and Tony Dungy, Belichick appears to win hands down,......

--Well, that didn't take long. The BPD announced that it arrested 18 people during today's Red Sox Rolling Rally. All the arrests were for disorderly. For the record, Bostonist saw absolutely no disorderly along Boylston, unless people refused to climb down from trees and the tops of the public toilets. --The Red Sox fans who were arrested after celebrating Game 4 against Cleveland were arraigned yesterday. Some admitted to bad behavior, while others, according......

Did you know? Red Sox fans get happy when the Red Sox win. And they get sad when the Red Sox lose. They also like to nibble on munchies during the game. The Globe apparently didn't think that their readers were aware of that fact, so they hired the MIT Media Lab for a study that showed up on Sunday's City & Region front page. In the study, MIT's Media Lab observed Elena Tate,......

--A gun battle erupted in Dorchester yesterday afternoon. A teenager was wounded, and a No. 23 bus got shot up. The teen, Walter West, was celebrating his 16th birthday. His gift was that his wounds are non-life-threatening, and no one on the bus got hurt. The BPD told the Herald that the gunfire was "likely related to a feud between gangs on Morse and Lucerne streets." --The city has announced another new plan to cut......

And embattled Idaho Senator Larry Craig, he of the "cruisy toilet," is surprised that former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney dropped him like a hot potato? A really, really hot potato you'd like to meet in a Minneapolis toilet stall? Anyway, Craig, who is trying to withdraw his guilty plea to the misdemeanor after allegedly trying to pick up an undercover cop in a Minneapolis restroom, went on NBC and gave Romney two......

Living in the 'hood of Beacon Hill is rough. The Charles Street Doggz must cope with prying eyes, envious gazes, pedestrians who aren't wearing Lilly Pulitzer, and now the noisy beeps made by crosswalks. The Charles Street Doggz immediately investigated the situation and discovered those crosswalks were beeping so blind people would know when to cross the street. The Charles Street Doggz were faced with a tough choice--themselves or the blind. So they complained to......

--In Centerville, Kelsey Pratt, 19, of Osterville, allegedly drove drunk into the side of a house. That in itself doesn't seem Blotter-Worthy, but WBZ has the video, and Pratt didn't just tap that house. She plowed into that sucker like it was a garage. No one got hurt. WHDH says this is Pratt's second OUI offense. --But wait, there's more drivers plowing into houses! In Saugus early this morning, an unidentified driver struck two cars,......

--Police are searching for a man who stabbed two people at Park Street Station after the Red Sox Rally at 11:45 on Monday night. According to MBTA police, the stabber just lost his temper after bumping into the victims and "exchanging words." Surveillance video depicts another man and a woman who were somehow involved in the fight but took off. All three escaped, and the stabber jumped on the tracks and ran out using an......

Mitt Romney is throwing an unusual contest. After his thuggy aides tried to drive people away by pretending to be police officers, Romney would like to bring the masses a little closer to him. Contestants will write 100 words or less about why they want to spend time on Romney's tour bus. The three best essayists (or fawners, whatever) will get to hang out with Romney for a day and watch him kiss babies......

The South End Open Studios will take place this weekend - Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16, from 11 am to 6 pm. This year's South End Open Studios will be satisfying all your art cravings over the weekend. You can see a full list of participants at the United South End Artists, Inc. website. Some of the more eye-catching projects include Katie DiChiara's "fabulous funky artificial hair sculptures designed to enlighten." Beyond......

--Hi-Fi Pizza is usually known as a hangout for drunken concertgoers and college students looking for some absorbency. But a drunken, one-sided domestic dispute went down in front of the Hi-Fi in Central Square early Sunday morning. Isaac Evans McClamy was multitasking by riding his bicycle and arguing with a woman who may have been his girlfriend, all while drunk. He engaged with the Cambridge PD, hitting one officer with his bike tire and causing......