Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Have You Hugged a Septa Driver Today?

My morning consisted of a LOT of public transportation with a LOT of my fellow public transitors (notice how I not only made up a word here, I used “-or” instead of “-er"...everyone knows that nouns that end in “-or” are MUCH classier...)Apparently, the R5, or now “for our convenience” is simply called the “Paoli/Thorndale Line”, didn’t feel like making the usual express run from Bryn Mawr. People were SCRAMBLING to get on the train at Narberth. I’m pretty sure the conductor shouted “Women and children first!” as people piled on. Chivalry being LONG dead at this point, left poeple pushing and shoving, trying to finagle their way to stand into any crevice (yup- I went there) possible… seriously. By the way, adding to the stress, the train was 10 minutes late-normally this wouldn’t be a big deal. Normally people give themselves some grace time to get to work.

Normally.

Me? Nope.

I take the latest train possible that gets me to work with like 2 minutes to spare if it runs on time… which it never does.

I get it.

Sometimes I set myself up for a problem.

I like drama.

It gets the adrenalin pumping.

Sue me.

No. Don’t sue me.

Just deal with it and read my blog.




But seriously people, us Zone two-ors pay over $120 a month to ride into center city each morning. PLEASE for the love of God, add some more cars! I RARELY get to sit down on my commute to work. Okay, Okay. Do I appreciate that I save like $25 a month by not having a parking spot- sure who doesn’t like to save $25? But this isn’t some graceful train we’re talking about. You know those like fancy ones in Europe or Asia or something.

Septa’s cars are rocky. They are unpredictable. They speed up and slow down, turn on a dime!

Do you KNOW how clumsy I am? Do you KNOW how clumsy I am in heels?

What’s that? Wear sneakers on commute? Like Melanie Griffith in Working Girl?

HELL NO, this is not 1988 and I am not trying to date Harrison Ford, even if he’s down for a chick in some sneaks.


So friends, I will leave you with one question:
Have you hugged a Septa driver today?
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1 comment:

  1. rashtiMarch 1, 2012 at 11:08 AM

    Hi Laura,

    I represent SEPTA Customer Service and I deeply apologize for your experience yesterday. We encountered significant equipment problems with a disabled train at a vital location which had a serious domino effect, impacting numerous other trains. While it is not uncommon for the Paoli/Thorndale line to experience delays, we chose to eliminate some express trains in attempts to provide a moderate level of service given the equipment complications. Even still, many trains suffered severe and abnormal overcrowding, which we regret as it is highly uncomfortable and frustrating for our customers.

    Please note that as we add more and more new cars to our fleet, and replace the older ones, equipment problems will be significantly minimized and the on time performance will improve.

    We at SEPTA value the feedback and appreciate your patronage.

    James
    SEPTA
    Customer Service

    ReplyDelete

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