4 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

WBUR-FM (PBS), Boston, MA 4/30/24

 

What's the latest novel vision for the T? Googly eyes

 

Members with the group "Googly Eyes on the MBTA" rallied on Boston Common near the Park Street station Monday. (Meghan B. Kelly/WBUR)

 

Picture this: You're waiting on the platform of the T. It's been a long day, your train is late and you just want to get home and into some comfy clothes.

 

You look up as your train approaches. Suddenly, you're faced with two giant googly eyes staring back at you from the front of the train.

 

That's the scenario for future T riders proposed by Arielle Lok, an organizer with a group called "Googly Eyes on the MBTA."

 

"If you look really closely it kind of looks like the T is smiling at you, and it's saying 'Hey, sorry, I'm late, but I'm just so silly,' " the 22-year-old said.  . . .

 

 

Continue here with additional photos. 

[CNJRoss]

WCVB-TV (5 ABC), Boston, MA 6/26/24

MBTA adds 'googly' eyes to some trolleys and locomotives

 

BOSTON — The next time your MBTA trolley or Commuter Rail train arrives, you might notice the front of the equipment "watching you."

 

The MBTA says after receiving public suggestions, its team found a safe way to install "googly" eyes on a limited number of Green Line and Commuter Rail vehicles.

 

The MBTA says it hopes the small gesture can "bring moments of joy to our riders daily commutes."

 

Continue here with video report. 

 

Googly Eyes Images

[CNJRoss]

Jalopnik, 7/5/24

 

Boston Concedes To Vicious Protestors, Puts Googly Eyes On Trains Whimsy scored a significant win in Beantown last month

 

In the year 2024, we have almost become accustomed to pesky protestors marching around shouting about useless causes like how they don’t think American tax dollars should be funding genocidal wars in foreign countries, but in Boston, Massachusetts, a protest finally created some meaningful change. Two months after a protest was held in the Boston Commons, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) acceded to the unruly protesters and agreed to stick large googly eyes on the front of several of Boston’s public transit trains, called the T.

 

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m being a bit facetious. The protests demanding the googly eyes be added to the T were peaceful and silly, and the protests about the reckless misuse of American tax dollars to fund foreign wars are entirely valid and necessary. The googly eyes, however, are no joke. If you take the T in Boston any time soon, safely look at the front of your train and see if it’s running with a set of oversized googly eyes.  . . .

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

People, 7/2/24

 

Why Are Boston Trains Sporting Googly Eyes?

MBTA 

 

 

Chief Operating Officer Ryan Coholan confirmed in a statement shared with PEOPLE that whimsical new decals have been installed on five vehicles

 

A train with googly eyes. PHOTO: MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

 

Trains in Boston are now rocking a fun new accessory!

 

Thanks to recent college graduates John Sanchez and Arielle Lok, the fronts of five trains run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority have been equipped with googly eye decals.

 

The whimsical new feature comes nearly two months after the pair organized a march calling for the MBTA to attach googly eyes to the front of T trains to increase commuter morale.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Canadian Broadcasting Company Radio, 7/4/24

As It Happens

A Boston transit rider was frustrated by a late train. She asked the city to give them googly eyes

 

Boston’s transit authority agreed to add the decals to some of its vehicles after a local campaign

 

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) agreed to add decals that look like googly eyes to its trains after Arielle Lok and about 30 others made the request. (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)

 

No, this isn't a Thomas the Tank Engine reboot. The trains in Boston now have googly eyes.

Why? For fun, of course. 

 

"We're not really trying to fix the trains. We're trying to add joy and whimsy into your daily commute," said googly eye advocate Arielle Lok in an interview with As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

 

In April, Lok and about 30 other googly eye enthusiasts made colourful signs and marched through Boston Common and to the doorstep of Boston's transit authority, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), known locally as the T.

 

Their goal was to convince the MBTA to accept its very simple demand: put googly eyes on its trains.

 

SNIP

 

Lok gives some of the credit for the idea to TransLink, the transit service in Vancouver. She used to live there and remembered the transit authority equipping its busses with holiday cheer.

 

Lok says she was inspired in part by TransLink's Reindeer Bus program in Vancouver. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

Continue here with audio report.