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5/26/11

Oh, How I Hate the MTA



Every other week I can't take the D train (the only subway in my neighborhood) to work. That is to say, whether or not I can find reliable transit service from the borough of Brooklyn into Manhattan is constantly in flux, often with no prior notice. I literally arrived at the station one morning at 9:50 to be told that uptown trains were ceasing at 10am...and MTA workers were only just then looking for red tape with which to block off the Manhattan-bound entrance.

When this happens, I have 2 options: I can ride the D towards Coney Island and change to another train at the end of the line. Or I can wait for the bus to take me to the F train which runs along the same avenue for a quarter of the way into the city. Both of these options makes me a good 20-60 minutes late if I don't know to plan ahead.

A common occurrence now is for the train to stop uptown service between the hours of 10am and 3pm on a weekday. Now, all of you artists, creative, retail, start-up or otherwise uniquely employed individuals must be with me in calling shenanigans on this. Most people I know don't work a 9-5 schedule, which is clearly to whom the MTA is trying to cater. I understand that track work must be done sometime, but I thought that's why service is impossible late at night and weekends. But if the train doesn't run most of the work dayall night or on the weekends...then the train ain't hardly running, is it?

I know everyone has their complaints about the  MTA - as well they should. The MTA is the largest, most frequently used (i.e. necessary for daily life) public transit systems in the world. Yet it is amongst the most poorly run. Is it because certain politicians, running for controversial third terms made promises regarding commuter issues that they couldn't possibly keep? Is it because New York City puts the least amount of funding percentage-wise into public transit than any other city? Is it because the MTA is a horrendously run, decomposing company that doesn't know how to manage employees, prioritize site repairs or balance a budget anymore than it knows how to make the buses and trains run on a schedule? (i.e., they can't do any of those things) Is it because the MTA will lose a million dollars easier than most of us lose our keys? Is it because, like most institutions, where you live and what income you make are directly proportional to what sort of service you receive? (Answers: yes,  yes, yes, yes and YES.)

I'm not saying that the MTA and the City of New York both don't give a crap about Brooklyn. I'm saying they don't give a crap about all but the wealthiest areas of Brooklyn. I can't speak for other boroughs, but think about the wealth status in your neighborhood, it's level of gentrification, average number of people with advance degrees, density with which "cute" restaurants and niche shops are packed together. Think about your proximity to Manhattan. Was your last subway repair a 2 year ordeal of inconsistant service, shut downs and sardine-packed shuttled buses? Or did they just install a countdown clock of when the next L train will arrive? I guess the trade off to paying less in rent is being stuck at home most of the spring.

I know it seems tired to be impotently whining around train service. I mean, we're a bustling metropolis, not everything will always work properly. But when reliability, safety and general cleanliness keeps going further and further down, while fare rates go up and up...something is seriously wrong. And you know what? There's literally nothing we can do! Too many of us need to commute distances too far to walk or bike. And what's the other option? Buying a car? If I could afford to do that I wouldn't live in middle-nowhere-Brooklyn in the first place, would I? (The fact that I an terrified of and suck at driving not-withstanding) 

We're constantly being treated worse than farm animals and expected to be grateful for the opportunity to pay for our own mistreatment. And all we can do is learn to get used to it. THE END.
Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz1Ygp5vxLJ

1 comment:

  1. Loved it, and hate those jerks too :) They made me cry today, yes, cry. Very long story and I'm too exhausted to type, but I hate the MTA.

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