Pedro said that security measures have included frequently running trains through the night to “keep an eye on things”—hours when the T’s tracks are usually closed for maintenance work—and running the first train of the day slowly so the conductor can look for mysterious things left on the tracks.
“So far we’ve been very lucky, we’ve found like 30 pairs of shoes,” Pedro said.
T ridership numbers at rush hour have been down ever since the Sept. 11 attack, Pedro said, but had been on therise in the last few days—until this weekend.
Like the T, the entire city of Boston—including usually bustling haunts such as Mike’s Pastry in the North End—were empty Friday night.
While the fear of recurring terrorism hit home for many this weekend, the days passed normally, and coming home people found there had been nothing to flee.
“It was foggy when we got back to Boston and we were straining a little bit just to see and make sure the Boston skyline was still there,” Clark said.
—Staff writer Daniel P. Mosteller contributed to the writing of this story.
—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu