Stuart Spina, a 17-year-old student at Commonwealth School, stood before the MBTA Board of Directors yesterday and told them how to fix some of the most sluggish, inefficient routes. Spina produced a 22-page report that was more detailed than what any pricey consulting firm could pull off. Read it, and you might want him in a major transportation leadership position. He studied multiple bus lines, including the notorious bus 23, which another teenager exposed as......

In general, a person should save a little money in case something bad happens. But the MBTA, which General Manager Dan Grabauskas says is broke, has had to deplete its reserves significantly. The Globe reports today that the T's new budget will take $20 million from the emergency fund, bringing the reserves down to $35 million. The reserves are supposed to be $100 million. Now that emergency funds are no longer technically "emergency," the T......

In his appearance last week on Radio Boston, Dan Grabauskas didn't discuss the issue of violence on the T. No one else asked him about it, either. But he has a lot to do now that a 15-year-old named Tiara Amarante documented the perils of riding the 23 bus. People riding the 23 are living in fear of thugs who pack heat, fight and intimidate riders on a daily basis. Amarante is a freshman at......

Radio Boston had MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas on the air on Friday, and he took questions from callers about the T. He likely realized that he was about to put his feet to the fire, as Radio Boston began the show with a few quotations, such as "I hate the people on the T, I hate the service, I hate everything about the T." When Grabauskas had his turn at the mike, he repainted......

For some of you, welcome back from a long weekend. In case you missed it, the Herald ran a shocking story about the MBTA cutting rides from its schedule without telling riders about it. They did it on purpose to save money, effectively punking riders who are told a bus or train will come at a certain time, only to wait for a ride that will never arrive. Bostonist already posted on the subject when......

Ever "Written to the Top" to complain to the MBTA that a bus or train you expected never arrived? And maybe, just maybe, they wrote back in apology? It's likely they did it on purpose, according to a Herald article: Top MBTA officials acknowledge that for years the agency has been secretly cutting thousands of bus and train trips from published schedules to lower costs - a practice that has left legions of customers waiting......

--MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas has received plenty of angry e-mails in his time, and should be able to take some serious heat. But he is furious about an e-mail from a Department of Corrections employee that got way too personal. Grabauskas is gay, and the e-mailer used anti-gay slurs about Grabauskas when describing MBTA service. Now Grabauskas is upset with Deval Patrick and his administration for not doing something about it sooner. The......

We can't control the nasty weather that occasionally strikes Boston. When the sleet stings your face, or when you step into a deep, cold puddle, you just have to convince yourself that the moment will pass. Soon, you'll be underground in a cozy T stop where you can thaw out or dry off. Or will you? Over the past weekend, the Globe did a piece on how rain is soaking through T stops thanks to......

-- Former "Most Eligible Bachelor," and now infamous sleazeball, Gary Zerola has been acquitted of kidnapping and attempted rape by a jury after less than a day of deliberation. He still faces other charges. However charges that he's a major creep still pending in the court of public opinion. [Boston Globe] -- An already odd case continues to grow stranger amid reports that the tragic deaths of Marcelle Thibault and her niece and nephew......

MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas is on vacation in Thailand, which is in itself not a crime. However, the Herald is reporting that Grabauskas left for vay-cay as an Amtrak strike looms. But is it a story? Rarely do we defend the MBTA, but Joe Pesaturo at the MBTA noted that the earliest time a strike can take place is January 30. Then again, a possible strike would be a "giant snowball of crappiness" for......

The Blotter and the Bite Size are merged today, given that everyone seems to be on break. Thank you for reading this if you're here! --Merry Christmas to the Del Valle family. Powers Fasteners has agreed to pay 6 million to the family of Milena Del Valle, the woman who died after a portion of the Big Dig fell on her as she and her husband were on the way to Logan Airport. [Boston......

A bright spot after the various scary episodes on the Green Line--MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas has announced improvements to a few bus lines in the city effective Saturday, December 29. The improvements will affect Route 15 (Kane Square/Fields Corner--Ruggles) and Route 111 (Woodlawn/Broadway and Park--Haymarket). According to the MBTA office announcement, specifically, Route 15 service "will be extended to provide increased evening and weekend service to Bowdoin Street, Geneva Avenue and Fields Corner Station."......

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,......

Our little boy is growing up so fast! December 4th marks the one-year anniversary of the debut of the CharlieCard, and the milestone has left General Manager Dan Grabauskas waxing poetic: "I guess you'd have to say that Charlie is a precocious child." Precocious? That's one way of putting it. Charlie loves playing practical jokes on us, like when we just need to pay for one ride, only have a $20 bill on us,......

The T announced that it is going to order 10 more of the infamous Breda cars for the Green Line. We wondered why the T would order more cars that don't work. The T's problems with Italian company AnsaldoBreda go waaay back: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority signed a $222 million contract in 1995 with an Italian company now known as AnsaldoBreda to provide the trains. The company was supposed to deliver 100 "Breda" cars,......

Nothing really seems to change on the T because most of the people riding it are ordinary schlubs like us. We "write to the top," and our letters escape into the void of transportation bureaucracy. Until now. Paul Levy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, posted a letter to Universal Hub about a Green Line Ride From Hell. The entire letter is available at Universal Hub, but, in short, Levy......

The MBTA made a bold marketing move in branding the new fare cards. Bold, but perhaps brilliant. Before the CharlieCard, before the CharlieTicket, all passengers have is the MBTA to blame. Now riders simply raise their fists and curse Charlie (think Shatner screaming "Khaaan!") the MBTA isn't scapegoat - it's the new cartooned mascot. A mascot who was taken from the verse of a song about a guy who was stuck on the T because......

The Celtics didn’t make the NBA playoffs. The Bruins didn’t make the NHL playoffs. So what’s happening at the TD BankNorth Garden? Not much. The action underneath the Garden is today’s news. Dan Grabauskas announced today that the commuter train platforms for Amtrak and the Commuter Rail will see a more than 100% increase in size by November. If completed this would be an amazing feat for the MBTA, which has been working on......

The MBTA is revving up the flux capacitor and delivering to New Orleans reliable green line service. In a Romney supported dispatch the MBTA will be shipping a portable power substation, capable of pumping the 600 volts into the rail system to get the streetcars moving. Bostonist is not an electrician and our high school physics knowledge is a little, well, dusty, but with some quick review it looks like 1.21 Gigawatts is still quite......

The Globe tells us this morning us that soon, soon, the T will be fully converted to automated fare cards, a la New York (but hopefully without any crippling strikes). CharlieTicket [sic], as the card is known (the MBTA, ever hip to the latest typographical trends, eschewed the space between two words but preserved the capitalization of the second word), will allow free transfers from bus to subway, T top dog Dan Grabauskas promises, though......

The Boston Globe may actually have something interesting to run in the Sidekick this week. The story emerged earlier today that, unlike other metropolitan areas , the MBTA was experiencing the lowest volume in riders since 2000. Boston.com started collecting riders opinions at 6:30 a.m. this morning, an early hour to start catching the flack that T riders are so easy to provide about their travels. We presume this question of the day will make......

Governor Romney was spotted this afternoon at the Park Street MBTA station. The Governor returned to Boston from a Washington DC fundraiser in order to show residents that things were perfectly safe. Bostonist usually rides on the Trolley with a couple of body guards too, perfectly safe Mitt. Channel 5 already has posted a report on Mitt’s return home just to ride the subway (similar to when he slept in his own bed in the......