photo credit: David C.
Last week...and yesterday
Granted, there still is a booth with a clerk at the other entrance at Second Place and there are two Metro card machines on the President Street side, but it always seemed safer at that end of the station when there was a clerk available, even if only occasionally.
Over the years, there have been many instances when the MTA wanted to eliminate this particular booth, but there always came an angry outcry from the neighborhood and our politicians, who cited safety concerns. The MTA always backed off. I guess this time, the agency moved ahead without much advance notice to the community.
If the MTA isn't going to staff the booth with a station clerk at this end of the station, it's obsolete, of course, but I can't help being a bit sad about losing it.
How about you, neighbor?
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7 comments:
I think it is awful. Safety is a BIG concern. A neighbor who is a policeman told me that even he had to wait 10 minutes for back-up. If anything should happen to a passenger, don't expect help in time. Not a scare tactic. Just be very careful.
I noticed that over the weekend and asked my son when they had removed it. It doesn't seem as safe. Is there no clerk at all now? The machines are not the most reliable. Are the cameras watching us? Will there be a rise in fare beating? I remember when the MTA used to lock that entrance overnight and on weekends. Hope we don't go back to those days. It just seems a bit desolate. And I am remembering how Bloomie tried to bribe us with improvements to the F train.
I think it's outrageous that the MTA would do something like this literally in the middle of the night. It was there one day and gone the next...a very sneaky and underhanded move. Even the the booth had been left empty for a long time, at least there was the semblance of human presence or the mere suggestion that someone might be nearby. Now anyone who's up to no good will feel free --with absolutely NO chance that any transit worker will be there. I still say fire the entire MTA Board and start all over with qualified people who actually understand and USE the system every day.
The plan is a false efficiency. Cutting back on
an official presence in the subways didn’t make
sense even before Sept. 11, and it’s especially
troubling now.
Everything the MTA does is a false efficiency. It's not even the post-Sept 11 world I'm worried about. It's common hooligans & criminals that concern me.
The MTA did it here at Carroll Street(my home station) and they did it at 42nd Street & 3rd Ave in NYC, too. (my work station)
And other stations as well.
This just goes to show you that when they said Temporary Booth Changes they knew then that they'd never man those posts again.
The MTA is sneaky and wasteful.
Question: Why not leave the old booths in place in case the polcie or fire department needed a command post? They all have keys for these things!
Good point, Born in CG.
I had no idea the police and fire department had keys as well. You are right. They should have just left the booth.
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