“How can you tell when the train is packed?”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/article…
Malikah Fardon-Jones-Finney and her 12-year-old daughter glanced at the ad hanging over their heads at the top of the Red Line train wall.
The image is simple – a young woman squeezed between faceless bodies – and the message succinct: “Rub against me and I’ll expose you.”
“Does that happen?” Fardon-Jones-Finney asked. “How can you tell when the train is packed?”
The fact that the normal operating mode of mass transit at rush hour is that people are crushed together more tightly than cattle in the abattoir chute is, to me, a sign that first world norms of personal space are not being supported.
Certainly, any creeps rubbing up against women are guilty of being perverts.
…but the MBTA management is guilty of treating Americans like African peasants packed 78-people-and-12-chickens-and-3-goats-to-a-bus.
…and the fact that Americans pay is evidence only of the fact that you can tempt people into anything if you force the taxpayers to subsidize three quarters of the actual price.
Without socialism, the market for MBTA rides clears at a price of zero and a volume of zero.
Democratic voting yuppies, though (a) like to have their social inferiors take the train to clear the roads for their Priuses; (b) like the feeling that they’re “doing something” for the environment (as long as that “something” isn’t something free market friendly, like allowing private, unregulated jitneys to transport people…
April 13th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Oh but come on. What’s the alternative? Have you ever been to LA or Atlanta, where nobody uses mass transit? As bad as the T is, imagine how much more miserable the city would become without it.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
That’s the first triple-hyphenate surname that I’ve ever seen. I wonder if her daughter will one day choose to have a quadruple last name. Madness.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Major the Honourable Lawrence J E Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
“Rub against me and I’ll expose you.â€
I guess that’s better than having them expose themselves.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
The major traffic engineering problem the MTA is running into is that they can’t safely run more trains at rush hour, yet the number of people using them at that time continues to grow.
As for the whole taxpayer supported deal, While they do get money from the state and the city, most of it is supported by fares, just not entirely the ones paid by subway riders(Bridge tolls help support the subway). There’s also the problem of “creative accounting”, when the MTA pleads poverty and asks for a toll raise. They’ve been caught at least once that I know of having a surplus when they claim future red ink when requesting a toll raise.
I’m not going to get into the utter mismanagement of the system they do – honestly, the toll should be a dollar or less.
HTRN
April 14th, 2008 at 7:36 am
most of it is supported by fares
To put it politely, that assertion is factually challenged.
MBTA fare collections are not even enough to cover the MBTA’s bond interest. The T’s operating and maintenance costs (and its generous pension benefits) are financed through taxpayer subsidies.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Because, of course, private unregulated jitneys will be able to transport hundreds of thousands of people to work everyday. Nope, no reason to have reliable mass transit which thousands of people take every day to work at better paying jobs than the ones that are available within walking distance of their homes. We certainly don’t need that kind of economic benefit. The fact that the subway system is over a hundred years old and predates both Priuses and the environmental movement is beside the point and the stereotypical African bus reference is just the icing on the cake. I suppose you will have to add “can’t write snark in *any* language” to your profile.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:42 am
[quote comment="136457"]Because, of course, private unregulated jitneys will be able to transport hundreds of thousands of people to work everyday. [/quote]
…exactly like private, unregulated (as far as destination, hours, times, and routes) private vehicles do every day.
[quote]
. Nope, no reason to have reliable mass transit which thousands of people take every day to work
[/quote]
I am all in FAVOR of reliable mass transit for thousands of people … I just think that it should be private, emergent, competitive, and unionized.
How do you sleep at night knowing that thousands of competing restaurants exist, none of them with menus planned by the government, none of them with seating times, prices, decor or spices approved by government officials?
What, do you want to throw away the economic benefit of people eating out at restaurants?
Of course, what I’ve just done is set up a false choice…just like you’re doing with mass transit.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:41 am
As a person who has taken the T for nearly 20 years and is legally blind, I have very little to complain about in regards to the T (I get to ride for free on all lines) save for the rush hour logistics and the somewhat nightmarish conditions during Fenway games. My biggest complaint about the T has always been THE PEOPLE RIDING IT. You know, the people who throw around half folded copies of the metro, dunkin donuts cups, empty bottles etc…also the people who try to jam into the train as if it is the last one on earth.
Btw, compared to rush hour in Tokyo (where I spent some time) the crowds on the train are nothing compared to that. Please spare me your white trash entitlement speech. I don’t believe our ancestors fought the revoluationary war so that you could be a loudmouth and complain about the T when it is, from the link above, just trying to safeguard against the pervs. In Japan they have ‘women only’ cars because the problem is so bad.
As for privitization…it has its own set of nightmares. You think people would rather pay $4 for a private bus vs $1.70 now? I doubt it. If they wanted to pay more, then there would be less system problems, yes? The T made the error of keeping the fares too low for too low…had they raised it to an even dollar in say 1990, they’d be in a better position now. People are so hyper-sensitive to things like that, yet still fill up their gas guzzling SUVS because it is their right as an American. I hope they ban any car with an MPG rating of less than 20 or triple the excise tax. Don’t laugh, if things keep going the way they are, it’ll happen by 2010.
Now, shut your pie hole.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:50 am
[quote comment="136458"]
I am all in FAVOR of reliable mass transit for thousands of people … I just think that it should be private, emergent, competitive, and unionized.[/quote]
TJIC — did you really mean to say that you want private businesses to be unionized? Or did you mean un-ionized (for the safety of riders)?
I’m a little more forgiving here; public transit may well be one of those areas where deployment may be impossible (or at least significantly hindered) without government intervention. (There are certainly less-drastic forms than simply making it a public service, though.) Infrastructure costs would mean that competing solutions have enormous build-out costs that would raise costs and hinder growth — would you suggest competition for water distribution as well?
April 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
“I am all in FAVOR of reliable mass transit for thousands of people … I just think that it should be private, emergent, competitive, and unionized.”
And I think everyone should have a pony. You do realize that the system you described was what existed, for the most part, prior to the MBTA and it was proven to be unworkable because capital formation for expansion and maintenance proved too difficult? I’m not sure how your beloved free market even applies here. I guess “anarcho-capitalist” is a fancy way of saying “believes in a mythical free market that has never existed”. But sure, lets put those imaginary jitneys on the road so everyone can be late for work while we wait for private enterprise to build us a new subway.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[quote comment="136478"][quote comment="136458"]
TJIC — did you really mean to say that you want private businesses to be unionized? [/quote]
Nope; I meant to duplicate the “un”: un-unionized.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
“Without socialism, the market for MBTA rides clears at a price of zero and a volume of zero.”
I’m not sure this is true if we also eliminate government subsidies for competitive modes of urban transport. A free market mass transit system might well be able to compete successfully with a free market road and gasoline system.