Universal Hub talked to Joe Pesaturo and found that the MBTA still needs to finish some work on the inbound rail ties on the Longfellow Bridge tonight and tomorrow night. Service into Boston should progress "full speed ahead" starting Wednesday. The outbound tracks, however, still need more work, which will happen the weekends of July 12 and 19. Guess we'll be crawling into Cambridge for a while yet.......

New contributor The D80 Project gives us this ridiculously cool shot of a Red Line train that he captured with a fish-eye lens. Check out more of his great work with the lens here.......

This weekend is going to suck if you live in one part of Boston and would like to go to a different part. In addition to Saturday's Boston Gay Pride Parade, which will be packing downtown Boston with an estimated 500,000 spectators, the Cambridge River Festival will be closing Memorial Drive all day on Saturday. To top everything off, the Red Line will be taken out of operation between Park Street and Kendall/MIT so......

At least it's a nice day out. Because you may as well not bother going into work if you commute by the red line. (Apologies to those of you who are already stuck on a train somewhere.) Turns out that an electrical fire at Porter Square disrupted Red Line service. The fire is located at Porter. The MBTA says that trains are running again, but we all know that one T delay, no matter how......

How tall do you have to be to ride the Red Line again? Because you'll feel some thrills riding this particular MBTA line in the next few weeks. The Longfellow Bridge has been in a state of disrepair for some time, and authorities are considering closing the bridge during the 4th of July to prevent the teeming hordes from plunging into the water. Now, according to the Cambridge Chronicle, the Red Line trains are going......

--Some of those who treated the Big Dig like one big, fat ATM are finally getting their just desserts. Yesterday, a Big Dig contractor was charged with trying to overcharge the government by $300,000. They've agreed to plead guilty. [Boston Globe] --Things are getting hotter for Superior Court Judge Richard T. Moses. The Herald is ticking off a list of sex offenders he set free who then went on to commit more crimes. [Boston......

It turns out that Tisch Library at Tufts University is pervier than a Red Line train during rush hour. Under the headline ">"Public masturbation a persistent problem at Tisch Library," Tufts Daily reports that, in the past year, four women claim to have encountered inappropriate public acts of self pleasure in the library. It sounds hilarious, but it is sexual harassment. On February 10, a man was picked up by the police for "motions or......

--DA Dan Conley has announced a suspect in the murder of Jeffrey Santiago at King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea--19-year-old Jesse Camacho. Conley has authorized a warrant and wants the public's help in finding him. Here's a description: Camacho goes by the street names of ‘Fat Jesse,’ ‘Baby Jay,’ and ‘Syke.’ He is described as a heavyset Latin male standing between 5’5” and 5’7” tall, weighing about 280 lbs. He is believed to be armed and......

If you saw the Boston Herald cover for today, you might think the Red Line is crawling with gropers--or, as Bostonist likes to call them, "T Bags"--even though it's the Green Line that spawned its own groper only recently. But Jessica Heslam took a look at the MBTA's recent crime reports and writes, All told, 35 indecent assault and battery incidents reported on the MBTA in 2006 and 2007 took place on trains and at......

-- Call him Governor Patrick-agressive. Deval Patrick unveiled his 2009 budget, and it had a little surprise. $300 million of revenue is set to come from taxes on three casinos that do not yet exist. Patrick wants to license casino gambling in Massachusetts but faces heavy opposition in the legislature. It's a battle he has already won in his own mind. Nearly half -- $124 million -- of the speculative funds will shore up a......

A fire broke out last night at about 7:45 at Charles/MGH. A fire department spokesman told the Globe that "some trash landed on the power lines at the MBTA station and sparked a fire." The fire shut down the Red Line in both directions. The MBTA ran shuttle buses, and the T alert system announced that service was normal at 8:51 pm. Were you there? A member of b0st0n LiveJournal was on board one of......

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,......

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. The Red Line offers so much variety that you just might get dizzy--or drunk: Central Square: 40s, vodka, burnt rubber, more 40s,......

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. Today marks a trip down the Orange Line. You might get the munchies on this one: Downtown Crossing: Fried food, mouse poop,......

A viral video posted by our brothers and sisters at Gothamist shows some women who pole danced in a train car on a dare from darejunkies.com, much to the chagrin of the MTA. The video is something to behold, although, after seeing all the crotch-grinding and the dubious looks of some of the men enjoying themselves, we wouldn't want to touch anything in that car after the women finished. Here's the video: Given that this......

Okay, okay, the photo you see here is blurry, but Bostonist had to pay tribute to the Best T Outfit Ever, and you can't even see half of it. We marveled at this rider while riding the Red Line from Downtown Crossing yesterday. Her red-and-black ensemble was spectacular: black high-heel boots, very low-riding leather black pants, a studded black belt, a bright red shirt with a sequined red band, a studded leather vest, and a......

--Surprise snow! --A local kid figured out something to do with bubble wrap other than pop it. [WCVB] --Did you get stuck on the Red Line for a while today? A "very small trash fire" at Andrew Station shut down the Red Line this afternoon for 15 minutes. [Joe Pesaturo at the MBTA] --Doctors believe they have successfully reattached the lip of the child whose father bit it off over the weekend. [WBZ] --Cambridge can't......

--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......

Photographer and blogger Lolita Parker Jr. was on the scene when fed-up and overheated MBTA passengers broke out of a Red Line train stuck on the Longfellow Bridge during Friday's Park Street Station fire. The following image says a lot of good about Bostonians helping each other. It doesn't say as much about the T, which has some 'splainin' to do. Image courtesy of Lolita Parker Jr. More pictures of the incident are available on......

And good for them! Last night's trash fire at the Park Street MBTA station caused the usual delays and annoyance, but some passengers became so dangerously overheated when their train got stuck on the Longfellow Bridge that they broke out, using the emergency handles. The Globe noted that the passengers' actions were "unauthorized," but what were they going to do, bake in there like Toll House cookies in an oven? Lolita at Boston Faces, Boston......

Update: We spoke to a patient MBTA customer-service rep who said that she didn't know how long Park Street Station would be closed. She said that the decision to reopen it was entirely up to the fire department. Update to the Update: A tipper going from downtown to Cambridge let us know that a red line train actually made it through, and the doors opened at Park Street, so the T appears to be functional......

Say "au revoir" to the emergency small coffee at Au Bon Pain, T riders. The Cambridge Chronicle reports that starting this week, the MBTA will open their super-secret bathrooms to the public at Central, Harvard, Porter and Alewife stations. At the request of Cambridge City Manager Bob Healy, the T has has agreed to allow public restroom access at those stations for one year, as part of a pilot program. In other words, if......

No joke. The Red Line train stations are crowded right now, and the trains are even more packed with people. The official word being piped through the speakers at the stations is that a switch problem has developed near JFK/UMass. All riders going to Braintree need to get off the train and switch at JFK/UMass. The switch problem has caused all trains on the red line to slow down. When contacted, an MBTA customer service......

Just over a year ago (in June 2006) the ACLU threatened the MBTA with a lawsuit, alleging that their unwritten policy against amateur photography on the nation's oldest subway system was unconstitutional. Specifically the ACLU asserted that it was a violation of the first amendment rights (free speech specifically, though a fair argument could be made for freedom of press, we challenge you to give us a legitimate application for freedom of religion.) The......

--Yet another attack happened on the Esplanade, only this time the perp got caught. a creep attacked a woman and a child at the playground yesterday afternoon. The report says that they were sexually assaulted. WBZ specified that they were "groped." Police arrested 23-year-old Rearlimgigeazr Eshiesycapilla, a New Yorker, for the crime. Wait. Rearlimgigeazr Eshiesycapilla??? Yeah, that's the name this individual gave at first. Police were understandably dubious (so were we - come on). His......

It may be one of those instances where giving ink to an item might have the opposite effect than intended. Waiting in the Kendall Station for the next train to take us across the Charles we've heard the echoes of the Kendall Band installation on occasion. It certainly isn't the rule. We'd actually be surprised if a majority of the regular riders know where the hand cranks are that operate the musical art installation. Truth......

On Thursday, Bostonist joined a bunch of tired people in a red line car, and a guy hopped on and started shouting. We rolled our eyes at each other and looked uncomfortable because we figured he was either there to make trouble or sell candy bars for a dubious charity. But he had a surprise. He whipped a boom box out of a voluminous green backpack and pressed play. The sounds of Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time......

WHDH Channel 7 reports that a bus slammed into a bunch of parked cars at Sullivan Station in Charlestown yesterday afternoon. Luckily, the cars were empty. Unfortunately, the bus was not. Three passengers were sent to the hospital, including an 82-year old Charlestown woman who suffered a concussion, bruises and scratches on her face. The poor thing said, "All I know is one minute I was sitting and the next minute I was on......

According to Massachusetts is so blue that you can't tell if it's blue or black. We're not really sure what exactly that means. The Daily Show recapped the Republican debate and provided no fewer than three segments to dig into Mitt Romney. Perhaps it's a sign that the statesman from Massachusetts (and Utah, and Michigan, and…) is a front runner worthy of ridicule. But perhaps it's what we've known for a while: it's the little......

Paul posted a detailed description of his experiences as one of the evacuees during last night's Longfellow Bridge Fire, which shut down the bridge, the MBTA Red Line, Charles-MGH station, and Storrow Drive. By the way, Red Line service is back up now. Here's what Paul had to say (paragraph breaks and boldface emphasis are ours): I was one of the evacuees on the outbound red line train entering Charles/MGH on May 1st. It's difficult......