I felt pretty smug heading into September 1. I love my apartment, so this was the first year in quite some time I didn’t have to move. And when I do eventually give up my studio of solitude, my lease ends on June 30, so I won’t need to deal with the throngs of students and other suckers on the September-August cycle.

But I forgot the Cardinal Rule of move-in day—it’s not just those who move that suffer. And I certainly suffered after I foolishly tried to commute from Somerville to Brookline via bus yesterday.

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It’s hard to tell who loathes MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas more these days—the First Amendment advocates he infuriated by placing a gag order on a trio of MIT hackers, or the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick.

After facing pressure from Patrick and Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, Grabauskas rescinded the 9 percent raises he granted to executives at the debt-addled agency. (more…)

The MBTA sees security risk everywhere lately. As the agency continues to battle a trio of MIT hackers in court, it was forced to admit that one of its own employees was allegedly skimming cash from drop boxes used during Red Sox games.

Maybe it’s time to expand the random bag checks to include MBTA employees?

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We admit we’ve taken the name of Dan Grabauskas in vain. During a particularly frustrating commute, it’s easy to blame everything from the inaudible announcements to the day-old coffee spill that makes our feet stick to the floor on the MBTA’s general manager.

Grabauskas expects that treatment from everyday commuters. It comes with the territory. But now a member of the T’s board of directors is publicly admitting she doubts his ability to lead.

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The quest to save the MBTA and the Turnpike Authority continued yesterday, as Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen pulled the heads from all of Massachusetts’ transit agencies together to talk about how the state can save the Pike and the T without raising tolls and fares.

Apparently, the answer is to rob Peter to pay Paul. Hope you enjoyed financial solvency while you had it, MassPort!

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If we’d read the online listing that read “Want free subway rides for life?” we probably would have clicked to find out more. Unfortunately for three MIT students, a vendor that services the MBTA’s CharlieCard system found the post first, and alerted the agency to the students’ work.

The T won an injunction, so the group couldn’t share their findings at a hacker convention that took place in Las Vegas this weekend. But the T might be a little late in keeping the public from learning that the CharlieCard technology is easily manipulated.

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There is no better time to read an article about the MBTA possibly seeking “hefty” fare increases in 2010 than when you’re standing on a corner for half an hour, waiting for a bus that never shows up. It makes the idea of paying as much as $1.90 to ride the bus when it finally does arrive that much more infuriating.

But once we made it into the office and had some coffee, we calmed down and recognized Dan Grabauskas’ comments for what they are—the opening salvo of a campaign to get the MBTA some debt relief.

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Lately it seems that the MBTA has become the redheaded stepchild of financially troubled quasi-public agencies. While the Turnpike Authority is offered bailouts, the public transit system’s pleas for help coping with increased ridership and soaring fuel prices have largely gone unheeded.

To add insult to injury, the state seems ready to allow the fifth-annual sales tax holiday on August 16-17, which will deprive the MBTA of some much-needed cash.

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If we had a choice between jamming ourselves into a sweltering trolley car or driving into work in air-conditioned comfort, listening to the music we like, and not being groped by pervs, we’d obviously choose the latter. So, we can’t really fault MBTA general manager Dan Grabauskas for commuting in the department SUV.

But we do take umbrage with his explanation as to why he forsakes the rails for the road.

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Back in the days when college students could still finance their educations with student loans, our parents had to cosign for one year of our astronomically expensive education. (Yeah, we had some trouble with that credit card we ended up with freshman year.) To this day, we’re threatened with dismemberment should we make a late payment and ruin our mom’s credit score.

But cosigning loans isn’t just for parents of spendthrift liberal arts majors anymore. Now the state may have to vouch for the Turnpike Authority’s ability to pay back its massive debt.

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