i mean, i’ve never had the sort of madcap mta adventures on the regular that matt has, though my time out in richmond hill was fun (back in the late 90s, early 2000s) in a very not fun kind of way.

the mta’s constant crowing about doomsday budgets and the total lack of press interest in their bond issuance mishaps are annoying. i do give the straphangers group credit for doing their best and trying to create some kind of feedback cycle with teeth, but at the end of the day two factors intervene:

a) if you need the mta, you need the mta.
b) there’s no way to run this kind of system at break even, much less profitably. funding emergencies are a constant companion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interborough_Rapid_Transit_Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Rapid_Transit_Company

those tiny zip cars look like an invitation to death; like motorcycles but you look less cool on your way to organ donation city.

I love it when people who don’t even live in the city, or better yet Long Island (at least according to Fred’s IP address), tell us city folk who to travel.

Of course, here, there’s only one worker around (the driver), and they never get involved. Things either work themselves out, or everyone else on the bus has to do…something…to calm down the situation.

In the city of New York, the mayor has had to ask every department and service to make severe cutbacks across the board to help deal with the financial crisis, which no one wants to do… since it means a loss of jobs in quite a few cases… but almost everyone understands that drastic measures need to be taken to prevent a bigger crisis later down the road.

The MTA on the other hand clearly lacks this attitude and foresight. Many within the organization feel that they are clearly entitled, and whenever it’s pointed out that much of the problems they are currently drowning is entirely their fault, due to poor planning and idiotic investments, the attitude is an extremely flippant “yeah, whatever, who cares” and then they immediately beg the state for more money. Since they know without them, the city will more or less collapse. Again, that vice grip.

The state, whose funding ultimately dictates what the fare will be, is another issue, because people in Albany are more than a little annoyed by how this one mass transit system which only serves one area… never-mind that it’s New f’n York City and how it’s the arguably the most important city in the country and how they get most of their money from this one tiny little area… is constantly asking for more, more, more. Many up there are just sick and tired of hearing about the problem; I’ve got a buddy up there whom I ague with on a very regular basis regarding this issue, and as of late, I have begun to understand his point of view. It’s like having a snot-nosed younger brother who acts all hot shit but at the end of the day, can’t tie it’s shoe laces and is always asking for help. At a certain point, you can’t help but just roll your eyes.

Meanwhile, the MTA arrange these half-hearted attempts at letting the public speak their voice, which are always poorly advertised, and in the middle of a workday afternoon, when they know that most people can’t attend them. So all you get are crazy wackjobs, which in turn weakens the riders’ voice even more so.

There is still, unfortunately, a real element of tin-foil hat wearing as well. I’m not sure most people are aware that after this initial fare increase next month, there’s yet ANOTHER one next year, or they’re just not trying to think about it. But that’s what happens when people are demoralized past the point of caring anymore.

katie: I’d rather have one of those ultra compact cars from Japan (or is it Italy?) that aside from being ultra fuel and space efficient…

… have three wheels and look all OMGTEHFUTURE, and I’m mostly just pissed the vehicles in general today look like stuff from the 20th century.

And yes, the Zip Car is mostly to spare us from the horrors of the LIRR and the such.

Isn’t anyone doing anything to fix this?

But yeah, unfortunately, I and lots of other people have to, almost every single day. It really sucks that Katie and I are looking into utilizing a Zip Car, due to all these constant subway headaches, since the point of mass transit is to not rely on gas guzzling vehicles. I’d personally feel much better if they were at least hybrid electric.