Tonight, I was coming home from an exciting time downtown. I took the Red Line to Central, as usual, and got off at the very front of the train. This is the exit nearest to Inman St., but still technically a Prospect St exit. As I was walking up the stairs, there was a T CSA there, locking the gates to that particular entrance. She informed me that I was just in time, and that if I had been much later, I would have been “trapped.”

Like usual, I walked through an automated fare gate to exit, and then was confronted with the metal gate that blocks entrance to the T. What the CSA told me was that it was possible to exit the automated fare gate, but not to be able to go up the stairs because the station would be closed. Presumably, my Charlie Card would not let me back in the station because it would be after hours.

How is this possible? If one exit to a station closes before another, there should be more than an orange cone in front of one (but not all) of the gates. The CSA asked me if I saw the orange cone; I replied that I did, but didn’t know it meant anything other than “don’t go through this particular gate.” Given an AUTOMATED fare gate, it seems more than reasonable that after a certain hour, or even a certain administrative keypress, the gate should no longer let people out. There is absolutely NO reason I should ever be “trapped” as the CSA threatened, and I am honestly somewhat frightened by the proposition.