Another transit-avoiding politico:
[Massachusetts Gov. Mitt] Romney, who lives in Belmont and is frequently driven around the state by an aide, visited the T stop yesterday to reassure commuters that the Boston subway remains safe despite the latest explosions in London … Romney was also asked by a reporter yesterday about when he last rode the subway. He could only recall recent press events at T stops. ”Let’s see it was, we did it with the Charlie card and then also the . . . it was with [Senate] President [Robert E.] Travaglini — I’m trying to recall,” he said, asking aloud, ”We were at a station, what was it . . . Ashmont station? Ashmont station, it was Ashmont station . . . It’s not my regular commute.”
Turns out, when asked by the Washington Post, only five out of 10 board members said they rode the system regularly (two others refused to talk, so it’s probably safe to file them under “infrequent transit user”). Not one is a daily user, and most have either never ridden a Metro bus or can’t remember the last time they did. The Philadelphia Inquirer found similar results after questions SEPTA board members: Only four of 14 members interviewed use the system at least twice a week.
Back to Romney. While taking an up-close peek at transit, he got a taste of what regular transit riders encounter regularlyââ?¬â??he got hassled by a homeless guy. His next run-in was of the somewhat less common variety:
Later came the ”cat lady” — Heidi Erickson, locally infamous for allegedly hoarding cat carcasses in her Beacon Hill apartment — who screamed, ”You killed my cats,” and scuffled with transit police as Romney spoke at Park Street Station.
Whole article here.