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Googly-eyed Green Line trolleys take to the tracks
By adamg on Wed, 06/26/2024 - 2:12pm
A couple of months ago, some T riders asked the T to slap some googly eyes on the front of Green Line trolleys. Today, the T gave the people what they want: Googly eyes on Green Line trolleys - if not all of them, at least five, now roaming around the Green Line, such as this crazy-eyed trolley making the crazy turn at crazy Packards Corner in Allston.
Arielle Lok, who helped organize a pro-googly march in April, posted correspondence and a photo she got from a T spokesman today, who said the T slapped the shaky eyes on as part of a campaign to "bring moments of joy to our riders' daily commutes:"
We're constantly seeking creative ways to improved riders' experiences, from in-station musical performances and children's voice-over announcements to our "Share the Love" campaign.
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Comments
"bring moments of joy to our riders' daily commutes:"
Oh, please!
Let the jokes begin:
Wow, you're so smart
People like you seem to think they are smart because they disapprove of everything and have no sense of humor.
What do you call an internet scold?
You don't.
There's a joke for your morning coffee.
Money not well spent
Put that money towards cleaning the trolleys.
Yes, yes, of course
Use the untold
millionsthousandstens of dollars it cost to put googly eyes on five trolleys for something far, far more important.Even if it was only $200
use that $200 to clean the ladies room at South Station.
You want better service and clean trolleys?
That would probably start with organizing a "flash mob" to sing Charlie on the MTA while physically blocking the statehouse parking lot and preventing the reps from leaving.
Running your keyboard and whining about a fun cheap thing that people asked for won't do nearly that much for your cause.
Why not both?
Probably had to clean them at least a little bit to get the eyes to stick properly.
Who cares about the outside
clean the inside. Maybe vacuum the floors and wipe down the filthy seats. Better than eyeballs on the front of the cars.
Really?
Oh yes, it must have cost thousands and thousands of dollars. Roll eyes.
Consider yourself part of the "whatabout" crew. If people give money to starving children in Africa, the "whatabout crew" say what about children here. Or if people fix up a school, they'll say what about the roads. As if it's a choice between the two specific things you made up.
It's not that much money
A quick Google search says that giant googley eyes are about $7-13 a pair. At five pairs for five trains, that's $35 to $65 dollars, plus sales tax, in total.
Not even sales tax
Agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are exempt from sales tax.
Magoo sez
So silly. If’n these googly eyes were made out of pasta, Magoo would say “so fusilli” because silly rhymes wif fusilli and fusilli is pasta. Magoo.
Good job
Congratulations, Magoo! You figured it out! It's supposed to be silly! Well done. Gold star!
Magoo and the T, 2 entities
Magoo and the T, 2 entities that represent the worst of Boston.
Adorable!
Adorable!
Riders: Can we please have
Riders: Can we please have reliable service?
MBTA: LOL NO. How 'bout some googly eyes?
Again with the both
Reliable service requires undoing 30 years of deferred maintenance at the costs of billions.
Sticking some silly eyes on a few trains cost $100 and comes from the T's advertising and PR budget. (As in, money set aside for stuff like that.)
Idea for new advertising
Idea for new advertising campaign, "the MBTA. walking would probably be faster"
Cute joke, but the googly
Cute joke, but the googly eyes were suggested by riders.
"Suggested by riders"
Why is everybody acting like the entire T ridership was calling for these foolish "googly eyes"? It was a small handful of BU Gen Z-ers into whose lives reality never intrudes.
How about reading the article before commenting.
Did you even read the article?????????
Now they can stare down the
Now they can stare down the turkeys on the tracks.
What are you doing ...
...on the tracks, you Turkey! ;)
Googly eyes
Dirty, smelly, unreliable. To have a clean facility is a choice, not rocket science, ever seen how nasty the metal siding on the escalators is, grimy the black plastic floor squares are, inhale the odor coming up on a really hot day? There is no will, no followup, no accountability to even have the system be clean. The elites all come home from Europe oh how the Mass Transit gleams, they learn nothing. Googly eyes are cheap PR at worst.
An insult to riders
We won't give you efficient, safe, reliable service but we will give you googly eyes.
The article isn't that long
Maybe read it? The T didn't think up this bit of whimsy on their own. Some riders asked them to do it (complete with a march from Park to the Transportation Building), so they painted some googly eyes on five cars.
They're testing a new safety
They're testing a new safety feature.
The googly eyes are meant to look a little... indirect. Cross-eyed, almost.
That's important.
If a random loose bull got on the Green Line tracks and got head-to-head with a train - bad things could happen. If he thought the train's headlights were focused, staring him down, trying to intimidate him - he might take it as a challenge and have to assert primacy. The train might get hurt.
With the googly eyes... the train is much less threatening.
@Rob Are you implying that
@Rob Are you implying that bulls are more empathetic than turkeys?
The TLF wants to know!
I for one appreciate that
I for one appreciate that there is someone in SOME department of the T that gives a shit about doing SOMETHING that the riders ask for. The MBTA is not run by Mr. Transit, a single man making singular decisions at his beck and call. It's a bunch of different departments and different people many of whom have no ability to actually do anything about the maintenance issue. They were probably psyched to be asked to do something in their power to accomplish that would make the 10 or whatever people who asked, happy.
ħə red line needz wun uv ħeez: