Last night I had the pleasure of taking the “drunk train” home. By this I’m referring to the D Riverside branch of the Green line… after 12 in the morning. During the small but crucial window between 11:30 and 12:30 (when the last train of the night departs,) the T’s finest emerge.
Our train pulls out of Kenmore and begins heading to Fenway. Suddenly the train comes to a very sharp stop. Since I’m sitting in the back, I can’t see what’s happening up front. But I notice that the front doors open, right there in the middle of the tunnel. So I’m assuming that the driver had to fix something on the track… however after we reach Fenway, and people begin to get off, I notice the driver exiting the trolley from the doors in the rear.
So from what I hear from other passengers, there was somebody walking in the tunnel! The driver, being a good person, decides to let him/them on her train rather than leave them to the mercy of the tunnel. So as she rushed out of the trolley, I can only assume she was chasing this guy. A minute later she returns… but offers not a word.
Okay, so it took a while for a D train to come along, but who in their right mind (or in their wrong mind) would think to walk down the dark tunnels of the oldest subway in America in the middle of the night!?!?
But there was a redeeming note to the trip. Those of you who are familiar with the green line trolleys (not the awful new ones) know that there are some single seats, and that two of these seats will be facing the rear of the train (the empty operator’s cab.) I guess when the driver was running through the trolley to catch the mysterious tunnel walker, she noticed a man passed out in that last single seat. So when we finally rolled into Reservoir, she gets up, comes back to the guy, and gently says, “hey buddy, where are you headed?” He replies in a semi-dazed way that he was going to Newton Center. She says ok and returns to the front of the trolley.
I was really touched by that. T operators, as I’ve found, are not in general the friendliest bunch. And rarely have I seen one go above and beyond their call of duty. Really the driver could have just ignored the guy and once the train got to Riverside just said, “sorry, you were the one who missed your stop.” It was a small gesture, but it was extremely touching.
So it’s not all chaos out there – random acts of kindness do still occur.
I remember when I was about ten or so, I was with my mom and sister in Boston and the metro we were taking was crammed so the guy let us ride in the front with him. I still remember how neat that was. I don’t remember when this happened, or what line we were on, but he was really nice.
I still think about events like that sometimes. I don’t have the highest opinion of our species these days, so it’s nice to know that people still do decent stuff.