This is the MTA reminding you: Courtesy Matters

After only two short years of commuting to work I already have things I hate about the train.

An email I wrote to the MTA / Long Island Rail Road:

“The MTA needs to give more direction than just signs and station announcements. After hearing Juliet Papa and Al Roker telling me to be courteous on cell phones I would expect LIRR employees to follow the advice also. Instead the other day I was on the train and the two conductors were chatting away. It was worse than a cell phone as we were now listening to both parts of the conversation. The worst part was that the train was completely quiet before the conductors were on it, and the conductors could have just closed the door of the large conductor’s booth. Yes the MTA has no power to enforce “quite cars”, just like Amtrak has no power to do so, but if the MTA helped designate these cars common sense people would get the idea- people who want to talk will seek another car and those who want quiet will go to the QC. The MTA always shoots the idea down, and I don’t understand why the MTA can’t give it a try on a test basis. Honestly, I think trying QCs is better than my current experiences when half the train yells at someone on the phone.

Here is an article to help you see how some other countries do it (not saying the LIRR should do it this way but it’s just an idea): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7312672.stm

Another thing is when Maria Bartiromo tells me to watch the gap- I do! The problem is when people push me from behind and there is nowhere to go in the vestibule because people are backed up trying to get into seats. The MTA needs a simple and practical solution to manage waiting for trains, entering trains, and exiting trains. I have witnessed, when waiting for trains, near fights when people are waiting for a train on the platform and someone else steps in front of him. An easy fix, which I have seen in another country, is to paint a “V” on the platform where the door opens (where the “watch the gap” sign is now painted). The people waiting for the door line up on either side of the “V” and the center is clear for egress from the train. This is a simple way to control the crowd, and create space for people to leave. This way the ones who get there first line up first and don’t have the need to “box out” other others pushing those trying to navigate the platform onto the yellow bumpy edge.

Excuse this next bit of sarcasm, but I feel the LIRR and MTA would be better served if the people running it came up with practical and easy fixes to enhance the commute instead of spending time recording news anchors mocking me about an ideal that will never happen. I could also go without the the “train talk” fliers strewn all over my seat, that I have to brush off, and end up on the floor like those cards the Flash Dancers Club gives out on 46th and 8th ave. In one smart move by the MTA the extra recycling bins on the Penn Platform has greatly encouraged people to throw out their newspapers, but now there are more MTA fliers littering the train than newspapers and other trash. It seems like the people running the LIRR are a bunch of Frat boys promoting a party: throwing flier all over my seats, putting up colorful signs on stations and trains, and putting up posters. My view is best summed up one morning when the Maria Bartiromo recordings first started playing. That morning her voice came over the PA system in Hicksville and some commuter next to me goes, “they are wasting money on this “bull***t”? “

If the MTA responds I will post it here.

It’s about time! Obama’s speech on race.

Here is a link to the “Cliff’s Notes” of Obama’s speech on racism which was given in response to Obama’s pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial and inflammatory sermon.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/cliffs-notes-fo.html?cid=107448942#comment-107448942

After reading it I am convinced Obama is good at what he does. Throughout Obama’s time campaigning he has been accused of style without sustenance, and this speech is probably an example of that. I think if he was sincerely interested in the topic he would have made it an issue from the beginning, but you got to give Obama credit for his ability to address the situation in way that in intelligent and non-divisive while still bringing attention to the matter. Instead of sweeping the issue “under the rug” Obama decides to directly address the problem and offer his “solution”. That Obama is able to pull off this save, I believe, is a good indicator of his ability to navigate tricky situations – an invaluable asset for the political arena.

For insight into the white side of the race debate: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/