The Joys of Commuting

Fun With Trains

The board (the screen, actually) told us that the 5:23 to Bridgeport was on Track 23. I was a bit earlier than usual, but I went right to the train. Because the third car from the rear--my usual car--was the bar car, I found a seat in the second car. At about 5:10 the passengers on the train across the platform suddenly got up, exited their train, and started boarding ours. A Metro North employee stepped into our car and announced that the 5:23 was now on Track 28. Trying to get off the train while the other passengers were already trying to board was difficult.

In the middle of this madhouse, a conductor made an announcement over the PA system on the train. The 5:23 to Bridgeport was on Track 28, and this train was now the 5:01 to New Haven. That caused a sudden pause in the mayhem as many of us trying to get off the train realized that the 5:01 also stopped at our stations, and we might even get home a few minutes earlier. So we turned around and found new seats on the train.

Obviously, the original train scheduled for the 5:01 had equipment problems, so they had to switch equipment. But what part of getting a whole trainload of passengers off a train while simultaneously getting another whole trainload of passengers onto the same train causes mass confusion doesn't Metro North understand? It would have been less confusing and caused less grumbling if they had gotten us off the 5:23 first and then moved the passengers for the 5:01 over. I understand that the 5:01 was late by that point, but the mob scene wasn't any faster than an orderly transition would have been. And in the confusion, one passenger did not get off the train, and so the 5:01 had to make an unscheduled stop in Stamford, which is the 5:23's first stop (the 5:01 makes its first stop in South Norwalk).

Fun With Cars 1

We arrived in South Norwalk earlier than I would have if I'd taken the 5:23. I got to my car and found that I couldn't get into it from the driver's side. A whompin' huge SUV was parked in the space next to me, but parked over the yellow line. Both the cars to the SUV's right were also badly parked, leaving a space that wasn't complete. The SUV's driver pulled into a space too small for it anyway, obviously more concerned about being able to park on the second level--the level of the station waiting room--than whether or not I could get into my car. I was sorely tempted to key the SUV but decided responding to inconsiderate behavior with inconsiderate behavior wasn't the way to go.

So if you're reading this driver of the SUV with Connecticut plate 129 LDX, next time think about what you're doing because the next person you park in might not be so considerate in response.

Fun With Cars 2

Why is it that drivers in the New York Metropolitan area (the "tri-state" area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) can't figure out how to merge? Is it so difficult to let one person into the line of traffic in front of you? Would it really delay you all that much longer to show some consideration to another driver?

And what don't you understand about traffic lights? Would it kill you to stop when the light is red? No. But it could very well kill you to run the light because you can't wait an extra minute or two to get where you're going.

Maybe the rising price of gas is a good thing. More of us will ride bikes and walk! Of course, if they ride bikes like they drive...

Peace,
Jeffri