Awww, a kind hearted subway conductor tries to make the day a little brighter for his passengers and as a result, gets passed over for promotion. Not nice. Not fair. And what’s worse, seems to have dampened his spirit.
While I am on the subject of transit thought — the New York Times City section is soliciting ideas for the city’s traffic problem.
Traffic on the Brain?
Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on the best way to ease Manhattan’s perpetual traffic crunch. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposes congestion pricing. A group opposed to that plan suggests raising parking meter rates instead. Some bicyclists would ban cars. Some drivers would ban bicycles. There’s probably someone out there who would ban pedestrians. What are your ideas for treating congestion? E-mail them to thecity@nytimes.com, and we’ll publish some of the best and most interesting, with expert comment.
I’ve sent in my ideas. What about yours?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Catherine wrote on Oct 26, 2007 at 12:12 pm
There used to be someone who did something similar to this on the 1 line, and he was wonderful — more about the location of each stop and less about happiness. I saw lots of positive reactions and have missed him since he (presumably) retired. A pity this conductor isn’t being encouraged, as he should be!
2 nycdeb wrote on Oct 26, 2007 at 1:01 pm
and he did get encouraged - in the form of a thank you letter from his superintendent. But the left hand and the MTA and the right hand of the MTA weren’t in accord and even though he was praised for taking the inititive, taking the initiative is against “policy.”
There used to be a conductor on the Metro North trains who routinely had way too much fun announcing stops. I miss him too.
Leave a Comment