Diarrhea Defecation on Ruggles Train Platform (Boston, Quincy: house, salary, earnings)

[Steephill2]

Originally Posted by iDothisoften

The sidewalk next to one post office square (milk street side) consistently smells like urine. I wondered if it had something to do with the sewer or people were consistently taking a whiz there. Has persisted for months.

The downtown crossing T stop (the underground part) also seems like people regularly urinate down there. Will probably happen more inside the stops rather than the street when the cold hits.

I'm not positive, but my best guess with the smell in Post office square is due to those horses that is used for tours using that area as a restroom.

has anyone taken any of the elevators for any t station? We had to take the south station and harvard square ones last week and it was an obsolute horrendous experience. Ive also taken some of the orange lines ones in the past and was terrified. The smell is nothing Ive experienced before. Just that one thing alone would make me avoid taking the t if I had to bring a stroller into the city. Not sure how people with kids in the city do it.

[iDothisoften]

Originally Posted by Steephill2

I'm not positive, but my best guess with the smell in Post office square is due to those horses that is used for tours using that area as a restroom.

has anyone taken any of the elevators for any t station? We had to take the south station and harvard square ones last week and it was an obsolute horrendous experience. Ive also taken some of the orange lines ones in the past and was terrified. The smell is nothing Ive experienced before. Just that one thing alone would make me avoid taking the t if I had to bring a stroller into the city. Not sure how people with kids in the city do it.

That's actually a good guess. But are those horses used in the summer? I've only seen them in the cooler months. I remember the smell as early as June/July and it being pretty consistent since then.

[pikabike]

Argh, what a thread title!

This has dredged up a few horrible memories from years of riding the T in the 70s and 80s, and it sounds like things are worse now. Ick, ick, ick.

Get to the good stuff, yeah, yeah, yeah, OK.

Back when the T's Green Line between Kenmore and Newton experimented with letting riders on for free one way and paying the roundtrip amount in the other direction (an interesting option for those of us who enjoyed occasionally walking one way), the driver would open the rearward doors as well as the frontward one near the driver.

During one of the typical crammed-sardine scenarios at rush hour, I got on via the rearward door and it closed quickly. There were so many people I could not see much except the back of the person in front of me. And then the stomach-curdling stench hit me. Puke, somewhere unseen. Of course, I frantically looked down to see if I had stepped in it. Not yet.

After many stops of trying not to breathe much, the crowds finally thinned enough for me to see a side-facing row of seats with a sick-looking man sitting with a ginormous floody splat of vile puke in front of him. The stuff had splashed into the shoes and legs of the poor woman next to him, and people exiting that mandatory-exit front door had stepped in the YUCK. And I could not avoid walking at least partly in their numerous smushy footprints.

Urine, by contrast, is tame stuff. I never saw anyone poop anywhere on the train or even at the station, but maybe it was less common then. I did ride the T an awful lot in those years.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by iDothisoften

The sidewalk next to one post office square (milk street side) consistently smells like urine. I wondered if it had something to do with the sewer or people were consistently taking a whiz there. Has persisted for months.

I can't speak to this area because I did not regularly visit post office square.

Originally Posted by iDothisoften

The downtown crossing T stop (the underground part) also seems like people regularly urinate down there. Will probably happen more inside the stops rather than the street when the cold hits.

Downtown Crossing both above ground and below ground has always reeked of urine. It will probably take centuries for the urine smell to dissipate. I think there has been so many people urinating around there that the ground is absolutely saturated with urine and urine residues.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by goyguy

In case this is some sort of veiled commentary on that station and its surrounding community, take a trip to Central Square or Harvard Square on the Red Line late at night on any weekend. You'll see, smell, and have to dodge plenty of aftermaths of young White adults' over-imbibing. Watch your step on the sidewalks too.

Good point! The public discharge of human effluence is offensive whether it comes up or goes down and out.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I know we just passed the Fourth of July, but whenever this thread resurfaces, it feels like Christmas.

Originally Posted by Pear Martini

I love seeing this thread resurface!! It made me laugh so hard I cried back when it first came out. I might read through it tommorow with a cup of coffee.

I looked back at the original post. Next month this thread turns 3.

[EasternMassREGal]

This thread is great.

BOOOOSSSTTTT!

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

I looked back at the original post. Next month this thread turns 3.

Happy Birthday!

As much as I love to laugh at this thread, I actually had a "run" in at about 8:15 Last Thursday (12/31) morning. There was diarrhea on the Outbound side of the platform at Quincy Adams. I was surprised because A) it's a commuter station, not an inner city station and B) there's a restroom right downstairs. It was gross. I laughed and immediately thought of this thread.

[Bob Lanata]

Nothing says HAPPY NEW YEAR like Diarrhea on the train

[AnonChick]

Maybe the poop phenomenon is just a modern spin on Smoots?