After lots of experience and math, I decided since the daycare/commuting schedule will be so crazy in months to come, that the best thing to do is to buy the "12-ride" ticket every other week or so. I travel from Zone 3 somedays and Zone 4 other days. So for 45 bucks, Zone 3 and 54 bucks, Zone 4, I don't have to fumble for cash or go to the wasteful expense of buying 2 separate T passes. I don't take the subway since I'm trying to lose some baby weight, so even with one zone it would be a waste of precious $$$.
By sheer serendipity, this is a great way to save on commuting costs. To explain: On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Chloe goes to her grandma's in Beverly and I walk to the station at Montserrat for the 7:20. Most of the time the conductor is too busy getting ready for the Beverly Depot stop and they don't bother going through the car to check tickets. After Beverly, they are so busy dealing with the people that just got on that they can't get to where I sit before the Salem stop. By the time everyone at the Salem stop crowds on, the conductor is now so overwhelmed by the number of passengers standing in the aisle that most days they just give up completely on collecting fares, assume everyone has a T pass anyway and hide somewhere for the rest of the ride.
Today being Wednesday, I got on at Salem. For once, the 7:29 express had come on time so a lot of people had missed it and there were a lot of people. So we all tried to cram onto the 7:34, politely asking people if we could squuuuuueeeeeze into the seat next to them. I actually got a seat and sat down, wallet in hand, waiting for the conductor. I could here the little "click click" sound of the ticket punch about 12 rows back. Then the train made it's stop at Swampscott and everything went to hell. People crowded on, resigned to standing for the rest of the ride, except for one woman. Wearing blue nurse's scrubs, she plowed through the people entering my car, complaining to everyone that the AC wasn't on in the next car and now there were no seats and it was FRIGGIN' RIDICULOUS. She took her position about 3 rows in back of me and kept bitching. The conductor asked her for her ticket and she says: "WHY THE HELL SHOULD I PAY? THERE'S NO AC, NO SEAT AND IT'S LIKE THIS EVERYDAY! WHO CAN I COMPLAIN TO?"
I think at this point I would have suggested to her that she go on the MBTA's website and register a complaint. I've heard other conductors tell passengers to do it when the train is running its usual 5 minutes behind schedule. Instead, this guy started telling her that it says somewhere that buying a ticket doesn't entitle you to a seat. Things went back and forth until the conductor started screaming at the woman to not touch him. At this point people started to actually turn around to see what was going on. The woman, playing to the entire car now, yelled even louder, "WHO CAN I COMPLAIN TO??" "LADY, YOU CAN COMPLAIN TO THE LYNN POLICE!" he yelled back. By now the train was at Lynn station and the woman was hustled off the train Gestapo-style, leaving the rest of us to gossip freely about her.
But the best part is, the conductor was so freaked out at a passenger actually refusing to pay for late, crowded, uncomfortable service that he didn't continue to go through the car and I got a free ride AGAIN!
So it was a good morning.
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