stupid
I think it's a flaw of evolution that people who are incapable of making intelligent decisions end up in charge of large, important organizations. I'm actually talking about the MTA right now. For those who don't know- basically the group that oversees the transit system of New York City.
What's getting me at the moment is what the MTA is planning on doing with a sizeable chunk of their budget surplus: they want to instate a holiday discount program. This would make it so, during the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the week between Christmas and New Year, a single ride will be $1 instead of $2. Also, the purchase of a 30-day pass will get you a 40-day pass.
I just don't get it. This isn't going to help anybody. People who wouldn't ride the subway before aren't going to take it because it saves them a dollar, particularly tourists who are more likely to take a cab anyway. And for the tourists who will take the subway, it'll probably save them about $10 on average for their entire trip. Hotels are places that can give holiday discounts and both the hotels and tourists will benefit- not the subway. The plan counts for buses also, but I don't remember the last time I saw a tourist on a city bus.
NYC residents are more likely to go out of town those weekends, and I doubt many of us will care that our monthly pass is good for 10 days longer. I actually find the plan insulting as a New Yorker. I would rather see the proposed $50 million (which the MTA says this plan will cost them) go toward fixing some of the ample problems with the system that I pay to ride all the time. I'm paying $76/month for my card, I want to see improvements- not get 10 extra days to wait 20 minutes at night for an overcrowded train to arrive in a station where water is dripping from the ceiling.. Only to get on the train to hear imperceptible announcements and the train squeal deafeningly along the tracks.
Don't get me wrong; I love the subway and enjoy it when it runs smoothly. But the need for improvement is clear, and it bugs me to hear them announce a several-hundred million dollar surplus - after significant fare hikes, mind you - only to piss it away on useless things like this.
The transit industry here is lucky. Unlike the music industry, which is peeing its pants right now, the MTA has a great gig. People can't illegally copy the subway or ride their own indie subway. Cars are too much of a pain, and cabs are too expensive and usually inefficient for getting around. The MTA is all we have and it's all we're gonna have. They could take advantage of this and spend money on innovations that will make us all happy, knowing that we will continue to give them our money- so they've got nothing to lose. Heck, I wouldn't care if I spent $80/month on my metrocard if I knew they would vastly overhaul the system in a positive way. I'm not quite as happy to go up from $63 to $76/month and not see any changes whatsoever while they announce a huge surplus.
But it's not unusual to see large bureaucracies make bad decisions, which is why I think it's an evolutionary flaw that this is a fairly common situation. The people who are least capable of running things are the people who want to run things the most, and the people who have the power to put people in those positions pick the worst people. C'est la vie, bitches.
What's getting me at the moment is what the MTA is planning on doing with a sizeable chunk of their budget surplus: they want to instate a holiday discount program. This would make it so, during the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the week between Christmas and New Year, a single ride will be $1 instead of $2. Also, the purchase of a 30-day pass will get you a 40-day pass.
I just don't get it. This isn't going to help anybody. People who wouldn't ride the subway before aren't going to take it because it saves them a dollar, particularly tourists who are more likely to take a cab anyway. And for the tourists who will take the subway, it'll probably save them about $10 on average for their entire trip. Hotels are places that can give holiday discounts and both the hotels and tourists will benefit- not the subway. The plan counts for buses also, but I don't remember the last time I saw a tourist on a city bus.
NYC residents are more likely to go out of town those weekends, and I doubt many of us will care that our monthly pass is good for 10 days longer. I actually find the plan insulting as a New Yorker. I would rather see the proposed $50 million (which the MTA says this plan will cost them) go toward fixing some of the ample problems with the system that I pay to ride all the time. I'm paying $76/month for my card, I want to see improvements- not get 10 extra days to wait 20 minutes at night for an overcrowded train to arrive in a station where water is dripping from the ceiling.. Only to get on the train to hear imperceptible announcements and the train squeal deafeningly along the tracks.
Don't get me wrong; I love the subway and enjoy it when it runs smoothly. But the need for improvement is clear, and it bugs me to hear them announce a several-hundred million dollar surplus - after significant fare hikes, mind you - only to piss it away on useless things like this.
The transit industry here is lucky. Unlike the music industry, which is peeing its pants right now, the MTA has a great gig. People can't illegally copy the subway or ride their own indie subway. Cars are too much of a pain, and cabs are too expensive and usually inefficient for getting around. The MTA is all we have and it's all we're gonna have. They could take advantage of this and spend money on innovations that will make us all happy, knowing that we will continue to give them our money- so they've got nothing to lose. Heck, I wouldn't care if I spent $80/month on my metrocard if I knew they would vastly overhaul the system in a positive way. I'm not quite as happy to go up from $63 to $76/month and not see any changes whatsoever while they announce a huge surplus.
But it's not unusual to see large bureaucracies make bad decisions, which is why I think it's an evolutionary flaw that this is a fairly common situation. The people who are least capable of running things are the people who want to run things the most, and the people who have the power to put people in those positions pick the worst people. C'est la vie, bitches.