Busses and trains and things that "go"
Graphic by Kim O’Donnell
By Gabriella Collin
“The T is a joke,” I said to my aunt. It’s the beginning of January, and we’re having dinner in a small, but bustling pizza joint in Brooklyn. She looks surprised. Originally from Massachusetts herself, there was a time when she was taking the same train routes I am. The look on her face reads as, “they worked when I was there!”, which was 30 years ago. I press the issue a little further and tell her nearly every branch of the Green Line is shut down, and every other line (except Blue) is experiencing massive delays.
She sits back and sighs.
Boston, Massachusetts, settled in 1625 and incorporated as a city in 1825, is home to the oldest subway system in America. Blocks away from illustrious institutions such as Emerson College, the Tremont Street Subway opened September 1st, 1897. The TSS, or T, for short, was developed to combat the busy and heavily congested main streets that surrounded the Boston Commons. Gone were the days of horse-drawn carts, and in were electric, underground trolleys. While the original T only spanned a half mile, connecting Park St to two other underground stops, today’s T spans multiple neighborhoods across the Greater Boston area.
The problem is that the T regularly fails both residents and commuters. The Boston Globe recently named it’s Bostonian of the Year, though instead of a single person, the publication aimed to honor every commuter who stuck with the T in 2023. The Green Line, which branches off into Brookline, Auberndale, Brighton and Allston, as well as Chestnut Hill, runs at an average of 10.5 mph. The Red and Orange line run at an average of 13-14 mph, however the Blue Line takes the cake at nearly 17mph. For a public transit system that covers the entire city, as well the surrounding areas, struggles to break even 15 mph.
I put out a post on the queer social media site Lex, asking its users what’s the longest they’ve waited for the T. After a dozen responses, as well as in person feedback and instagram polls, the average Bostonian waits anywhere from 20-45 minutes for the T or bus. My coworker, who takes a ferry in from Hingham, says that the hour and a half boat ride is actually shorter than the multiple buses and trains she would have to take into Cambridge. Riders can’t seem to agree which line is the worst, considering they all have major problems. In January alone, ⅓ of the Green Line was shut down for nonspecific services and repairs. The train cars of the Red Line invoke the attempted repairs of MBTA past, with ripped vinyl maps revealing the old systems. As the Red Line comes to a grinding halt at top of the Longfellow Bridge, riders can watch in envy as bikers and mommy-joggers with giant strollers whiz by their train cars. Whether it’s a safety or efficiency concern, or some mix of both, Boston’s public transit being ranked some of the best in the country becomes farcical.
Because the T is not 24 hours, it poses a unique inconvenience for the night shift workers. For party goers, bartenders, late-night servers, and custodial crews, most branches of the T end service around 12:30 am. That means that riders have to rely on rideshare services such as Lyft and Uber, which usually cost upwards of $20+. On a busy night like Friday or Saturday, those numbers can triple. This breeds a further dependency on working these jobs, since the cycle of working to afford transportation to and from a job is vicious and easy to fall into.
My New Year’s resolutions? To save more and take my vitamins. The T’s New Year’s resolutions? Make life harder. I, like many young people in this city, rely on the T in all parts of my life. Work, school, even just seeing friends, revolves around an antiquated transit system using break mechanics that were patented in 1869. The stations are no prize either. In May of 2023, a ceiling tile fell from the Harvard Square station in Cambridge, narrowly missing a passenger. Only a month later, an Orange Line train crossing the Mystic River caught on fire mid-ride. Passengers were forced to evacuate, resulting in one rider jumping off the train and into the water.
All of that being said, depictions of public transportation in music tend to populate pre-2000’s releases. While the motif of leaving town, taking the train to somewhere better (or worse), with only a suitcase and a dream seem pretty common, how many artists are explicitly calling out bus fare? Well, I did some digging, and compiled a list of the best songs about public transportation that I could find. This means buses, trains, and even ferries. The first step was finding the songs, the second was ranking them on whether or not I would ride the offered service, and how well it holds up against the T.
“Waiting For The Bus” by Violent Femmes
The Violent Femmes was one of the first bands I ever listened to. This song, specifically, was played for me by my mom as a toddler, pretty often. Originally growing up in Brooklyn, NY, public transportation services such as the subway and the bus were frequently used. Written by founding member Gordon Gano, “Waiting For The Bus” is a brutally honest story of Gano’s experiences with the bus. This song is pulled from the compilation Add it Up (1981-1993) (1993), and the dating of “Waiting For The Bus” is clear when Gano is asked in the song to produce a 65 cent transfer. The stripped back nature is true to the band’s folk punk roots, and the explicit criticism of the city’s neglect for public transportation shines in lines such as “Let's call the mayor, let's complain / Looks like the city's done it to us again / Tied up in traffic, what do you know / The damn city bus, it moves so slow” It also features a spoke word section, where Gano is asked to pay 65 cents to transfer buses by a very stern bus driver, while the conversation is overlapped by a bus rider asking for the back door to be opened. This is my favorite song on this list, because of its honesty, but whether or not I would ride it is a different conversation. It’s almost a catch-22. I love this song because of the message, but because of the message, I would not ride the Violent Femmes’ bus. Compared to the MBTA and the Silver Line, “Waiting For The Bus” is one in the same with Boston’s transit system.
“Kiss Me on the Bus” by The Replacements
You might know The Replacements from their hit songs, “Swinging Party” as well as “Can’t Hardly Wait”, so imagine my surprise when I learned they had a song about taking the bus. “Kiss Me on the Bus” is rife with public transportation similes, being likened to public displays of intimacy and affection. The lyrics read like lead singer Paul Westerberg’s “train” of thought. Not only does he lament over his lover's tongue, transfer, and “answer”, he claims that “If you knew how I felt now / You wouldn’t act so adult now”. Before he can finish the thought, he exclaims, “Hurry, hurry, here comes my stop”. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the potential titles for this song was “Love Bus”. When it comes to love as a destination, the mind may draw upon the Love Shack a la The B-52’s. But what about love cars, trucks, and things that go? “Kiss Me on the Bus” isn’t The Replacements' strongest song, but from the opinion of a commuter, the bus on which Paul Westerberg is being kissed seems to be running perfectly. I would take this bus over the Silver Line, although my only fear is that The Replacements’ bus is meant for kissing, which could be awkward if a fellow passenger tried to kiss me.
“We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)” by Vengaboys
I’ve been on the internet long enough that I can recall the heavily modded Team Fortress II memes that were produced to this song. (Markiplier even reacted to one of them.) In the last few years, “We Like To Party!” has been remixed to every possible song, such as “Numb” by Linkin Park. I’ve come to the conclusion that most people haven’t listened to this song in full. Until I started this project, I hadn’t, either. “We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)” is a certified club hit. The Vengaboys are a Dutch Eurodance group, currently making music in Rotterdam. Taken from their official website, “It began with two dj’s: Danski and Delmundo, throwing impromptu and illegal beach parties from their worn out school bus.” The mention of a school bus piqued my interest, because of its relevance in “We Like To Party!”, their most successful song. This then shifted my perception of what the Vengabus is, while originally imagined a city bus, I now conjured the image of a school bus. After watching the music video, my idea of the Vengabus changed again, to a Mystery Machine-type Volkswagen bus. In the music video, the members of Vengaboys sing along as the passengers are enjoying the ride, but the bus itself isn’t very big. What about disabled riders and people with mobility aids? I’m not sure I even trust the driving skills of Vengaboys, since they seem too busy enjoying the music to focus on the road. While the Silver Line is subjected to traffic-based delays, the Vengabus seems to lurch to a stop rather frequently. The Silver Line is cheaper than the T anyways. I’m sorry Vengaboys, but I would not ride the Vengabus.
“Driver 8” by R.E.M.
R.E.M continues to remind people that they have better songs than “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” with every season of FX’s The Bear that is released. To my dismay, “Driver 8” is not featured in the show, but only one or two characters in the shoes actually take public transportation. When R.E.M wasn’t busy sitting in corners and losing their religion, the band was producing 15 albums out of Athens, Georgia. The music video for “Losing My Religion” won a Grammy for Best Music Video (short form) as well as Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Nearly their entire discography has been awarded or nominated at least once, and Michael Stipe has said that “Driver 8” “[...] represents great hope and great promise, a song that represents the dream of the United States of America and what it may become in the next three days.” But was he right? The song itself reads as an overworked, disgruntled train operator who has to be repeatedly told, “take a break, driver 8”. As far as America in the 80s was concerned, Ronald Regan was terrorizing the U.S. through his gross mistreatment of the AIDS crisis, as well as his “Reaganomics” that would further ruin, well, everything. Surprise, the train is a metaphor for America, which means it probably isn’t free. The repeated mantra is that America will get to a better place, “We can reach our destination / But we’re still a ways away”. The train in “Driver 8” is based off an actual train, which is now known as the Amtrak Crescent line. Crescent is a long-distance passenger train that travels from New York to New Orleans, daily. I love taking Amtraks, despite how expensive it is, but I couldn’t bring myself to ride on the Freedom Express that R.E.M is sponsoring.
“Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne
Yes. A thousand times yes. Taking any line of the T (except for Blue) is like riding a crazy train, rather than The Crazy Train. Ozzy Ozbourne’s “Crazy Train” is multifaceted, it’s a state of mind as well as a rideable train. Ozbourne, being from England, perhaps modeled the tangible Crazy Train off of the London Underground. I listen to “Crazy Train” on my way to work every weekend. The opening call of “All Aboard” as well as the riff developed by Greg Leon makes me believe I could run faster than the Red Line. After leaving Black Sabbath to pursue a solo career, Ozbourne leaned into his nickname as the Prince of Darkness. “Crazy Train” was the first single Ozbourne released as a solo artist, and his time in Black Sabbath is lesser known in the history of his music. The cover art for albums such as Diary of a Madman (1981) and The Ultimate Sin (1985) invoke paperback sci-fi art, the Prince of Darkness is like if Jareth from Labyrinth had an evil younger brother. Despite the glamor and art of Ozbourne’s early persona, “Crazy Train” holds a lot of truth. Not only is “Crazy Train” an introspective piece, about “Mental wounds not healing, who and what's to blame?”, it’s also mental numbness inherited through not only mental health but continued political conflict and travesty. “Crazy Train” is a piece of Cold War pop-culture, being directly referenced in the song as “Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become / Inheriting troubles, I'm mentally numb / Crazy, I just cannot bear / I'm living with something that just isn't fair” It’s easy to gloss over the real meaning of this song, since it passes so well as a headbanging classic. “Crazy Train” has been ranked the 6th best Heavy Metal song of all time, flanked by Black Sabbath hits such as “War Pigs” and “Black Sabbath”. Ozzy is bearing his soul in this song, only boosting his reliability and honesty as a musician. If this were a transit system, I’d like to believe that Ozzy would alert riders to service changes and delays, as well as give explanation for why. Unlike the T, that leaves riders in the dark on any and all issues. I’ve taken trains on the London Underground before, and while it’s nothing special, I would take Ozzy Ozbourne’s “Crazy Train”.
“Don’t Pay The Ferryman” by Chris de Burgh
There are five ferries currently operating within the MBTA. Boston—specifically the North End and Seaport area—is a harborside city. Feel free to enjoy the ocean breeze year-round, while Boston continues to maintain its title as the windiest city in America. Does the breeze make it colder or warmer? Is it always humid here? No one knows for sure. Chris de Burgh’s “Don’t Pay The Ferryman'' describes a ferry ride from hell. The lyrics are a musical retelling of the poem “Charon, the Ferryman” by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In Greek mythology, Charon was the transporter of departed souls in the Underworld.
“A horrible ferryman keeps these waters and streams
in fearful squalor, Charon, on whose chin stand enormous,
unkempt gray whiskers, his eyes stand out
in flame and a filthy garment dangles by a knot from his shoulders.” (Virgil, The Aeneid. 19 B.C)
In the land of the living, those who could afford it would bury their dead with golden drachmas, so their souls would be able to pay Charon and cross the River Styx and the River Acheron to the Underworld. The River Acheron is one of five rivers in the Underworld, and the most treacherous to cross. It is a punishment typically reserved for murderers. Chris de Burgh pleads with listeners not to pay the ferryman, but fails to give a solid reason why. Crossing Acheron is psychological torture, as riders are forced to relive their most painful memories, but failing to pay Charon means that the souls of the Underworld are abandoned on the shores of the River Styx, floating aimlessly for 100 years. I’ve only taken the MBTA ferry a couple times, but I remember enjoying my trips across the water. I believe in supporting small-time government workers such as ferry operators and bus drivers, and I don’t want my soul to wander the shores of the Boston Harbor for 100 years while I take the form of a ghostly Spector and haunt people. Chris de Burgh’s advice is appreciated, but clearly not thought out. While riders bemoan the poor service of the MBTA, this blame often falls on the shoulders of the operators and station workers, who really have no power in these matters. I would rather take Boston’s ferries, which are far more lowstakes than the story in “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”.
“Ferry” by Moontype
Moontype is a small-time, fearfully inactive band from Chicago, Illinois. “Ferry” is a dreamy, Lucy-Dacus-meets-public transportation song, kissing 1 million streams on Spotify. Singer and lyricist pours her heart into the slow, churning lyrics that beautifully capture the feeling of losing an intimate relationship. The opening lyrics are an emotional sucker punch, as if to say, “buckle your seatbelts, it gets worse.” She croons, “I miss you before you’re gone / Friendship only lasts so long”, in a rhythmic sway that is the auditory equivalent of standing at the bow of a ship. This song builds in a way that is very similar to “Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus, however, Moontype’s attention to the ever-dreaded “friend breakup” is what makes this song stand out to me. By their mid-twenties, most young people will go through at least one significant breakup. Some might go through more, some less, but there are more than enough sad breakup songs out there.
What about friend breakups? Underrepresented but just as painful, not enough artists are brave enough to venture into the platonic. Moontype steps in, with a perfect blend of the past and the present. The MBTA’s ferry routes are the only line of transportation in Boston that are not subjected to frequent closures. This may be due to the fact that there are only three ferry routes that are active year round, leaving an extra three available on a seasonal basis. Due to Moontype’s origins in Chicago, the song references Michigan and Canada, and the cool-toned cover art invokes a chilly January morning. No, “Ferry” is not the cure for a cold day, it’s not a particularly warm song that “feels like a hug”. It’s cold, it pairs best with freezing temperatures and wind-whipped faces that are chapped and raw after hours of being portside. The bridge of this song is slow and grinding in its emotional crescendo, and I don’t think I can be trusted with “Ferry” near bodies of water, since it makes me want to walk into the ocean
At the time of writing this article, there are nearly 100 service changes, alerts, station issues and delays plaguing Boston’s trains and buses. The spring semester is in full swing, but how are off-campus and commuter students expected to get to class on time if entire branches of the T are closed for weeks on end? The use of public transportation in music is uncommon yet grounding; If the Violent Femmes have to wait for the bus, maybe we’re not so different after all. As listeners and riders watch across social media apps the excessive flaunting of riches by celebrities and quiet wealth of Emerson’s upper-echelon, will we ever have truly relatable artists again? More and more musicians are getting their start on TikTok, documenting their Bushwick-based, unemployed lives to 10 second snippets of less than 2 minute songs. While this song didn’t make the list, “STAINS” by BROCKHAMPTON was a heavy contender, because of how well Ameer Vann and Dom McLennon articulate the feeling of relying on Greyhound buses and discounted plane tickets just to maintain a codependent, long-distance relationship. Proving that you can “have it all”, and still not have the finances to buy first class tickets.
A few weeks after the conversation with my aunt, I’m hosting a friend for a couple of days. She’s from California, the Bay Area, where the public transit landscape is vastly different. Much of California is car-dependent, any ELA student will tell you that, but the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) connects San Francisco to Oakland, and Oakland to San Jose. Throughout her stay, the Green Line was shut down, which derailed our plans heavily. One night, I’m making dinner for us and she tells me everything she’s learned about the T so far. In a nutshell, it’s broken. The trains all have speed restrictions, because if the trains go any faster than “Slow Zones” permit, they run the risk of derailment. The MBTA is grossly underfunded as well, and Mayor Michelle Wu has gone on record saying “Even if things were working reliably, the T system isn't extensive enough to serve the city.” My friend continues to ask “why?” Why is the T so slow? Why are Bostonians “like that”?
Why does no one leave?
I don’t know the answer. I don’t know why the T is late either. I keep chopping vegetables and sigh.