Gosh, what a lot of initials. But in the SMS/TXT world, one goes with the flow. But what do all those letters mean? Well, it’s like this - the New York Times called for questions about mass transit this week and not surprisingly, there were quite a lot of questions pouring in within minutes. At a glance, I’d say most of these questions have occurred to most of us at one time or another (probably more than once and even more probably when stuck in a subway tunnel for ages and not knowing why). And now, the questions are being answered by Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign.

Now anyone who reads this blog knows that I have issues with traffic in the city. I have issues with the transit system as well because frankly in a city like this - of its size and importance - we should not be suffering a transit system that goes to pieces in the rain. Re the importance of NYC - I’m not be local or arrogant here. NYC is important economically, culturally and symbolically on a global scale. If you wish to argue this point, fine but you’re wasting your time because love it or hate it, you know it’s true. If the city is to maintain that place - and I assume the city power brokers, government and other movers/shakers want that - then they better do something about the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get from one place to another in a reasonable amount of time.

Now, normally in my traffic rants, this would be the place where I state “Two Words: Congestion Charge” but I get all sorts of flack for it. From people who believe that their right to drive in from parts unknown trumps the greater good or the folks who misguidedly believe that such a charge puts a burden on the wrong people. OK, flack folks - I won’t say it this time. I will say this instead. If you don’t want a congestion charge, fine. What do YOU propose to do about the problem?

But I digress. The questions about mass transit are very interesting. The answers could be a tad more enlightening but that maybe due to a lawyerly caution in a public forum. I did think they picked a nice selection of questions (they couldn’t possibly have answered all of them or Mr. Russianoff would never have gotten anything else done this year) and there are more to come. Even more enlightening and entertaining have been the comments in response to the answers. Fascinating stuff.