retro-north

I left for work late in the first place, and then when I got to the corner, I realized that I had forgotten something upstairs, so I ran back and got it and realized that it was 7:44 by the time I was about to leave my apartment and that the next Metro-North came at 7:50. So, I figured that would be a better bet than regular transport. Since I live in a place where I have that option, I may as well take advantage of it, was my thinking.

I got to the Metro North station and got my ticket, the price of which having gone up during the latest round of extortionary price hikes, causing a peak time intracity journey to cost $7.50. That was my first indication that all was not as I would have hoped. One of the reasons that Metro North is a good bet, or so I thought, is that it runs on a schedule: it posts times at which it is supposed to come and get to where it is going. It is less likely to play the scheduling/connection games that make me crazy on the subway. If I am running late or something, I can plan my journey from a fixed time at Grand Central. I can look into the future and say, this is where I will definitely be at this definite time. That is worth a little bit of money and advanced planning as far as I’m concerned. However, as 7:50 passed by with no train on the horizon, my confidence was shaken. Then, as I watched 1 train after 1 train pass by the bridge just steps away, I imagined myself on it and did some quick calculations to determine what time I would get to work were I on that train – or that train – or that train.

The Metro North came at 7:55 (5 minutes late) and it was crowded so that I had to stand. Well, it isn’t like that all the seats were taken, but since some of the seats face each other at a distance of 1 foot, only two people can sit realistically in those clusters of 4 seats. The train itself ran at a pace unbefitting of a train, as far as I’m concerned. Again – I am fine with, when on the Metro North, taking for granted that I will get to where I am going at a certain time and taking any irregularities as a step along that process. For example, I know the train will run slowly as it enters Grand Central. It always does. But having it arrive 5 minutes late shook my confidence and made me feel a bit uncertain about its reasons for running slower than possible.

Since the train was so crowded, I was hoping that, perhaps, the ticket taker might not notice me and not take my ticket, thus giving me a free ride. But, no chance. He came by and took my ticket and started me thinking about the role of this ticket taker. I mean, with all the cuts that are happening, I am surprised that this person still exists. The ticket taker seems a relic from a different era when human error and interaction was not considered a nuisance. Installing turnstyles – like the type where you have to clock in and out of so that it can subtract the appropriate amount off your ticket (ala BART or DC Metro) – would seem to cost less. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened. In the meantime, we have this system where you have to interact with a human being, and a human being is called upon to utilize their powers of memory in order to perform his job correctly. The only way a ticket taker can accurately do his job is by remembering who was on the train, and noticing what is different since the last time he came through the car. It is nice to see that human beings in this industrialized world still have responsibility. But, why? Why the Metro North and not elsewhere? I mean, why have machines replaced so many human jobs, but no this human job that could have been replaced well before the most recent internet-based technological changes we’ve seen. I mean, on subways, humans are almost obsolete (machine based metrocard sales, machine based turnstyles, machine based announcements, machine based conductors in some cases), but on Metro North, ticket takers still patrol the cars. Don’t misunderstand me: I think it is great that people are being employed as ticket takers. I am just curious as to why there and not elsewhere. Why are human valued on the Metro North? My economic based theory is that installing turnstyles, etc. would require reconstruction of most of the stations in the system. My psychological based theory is that the Metro North travels mostly through wealthy suburbs and it is known that turnstyles and people in these areas would not react well to added layers of security.

In either case, the ticket taker is anachronistic and the process of paying for Metro North rides is wasteful of paper. You have to buy rides, as opposed to putting an amount of money on a card to simply be subtracted with each ride (considering that rides cost different amounts at different times of the day, this would seem to be the obvious way). And, extra paper is used to mark passengers whose tickets have been checked by the ticket taker (the ticket taker still has to use his memory, though, in the case that someone new is sitting in a seat of someone whose ticked had been checked). One technology they could employ would be to have a ticket validation system where the passenger is responsible for validating their own ticket via a machine that is on the train itself. The machine would know where the passenger got on the train, or would know at least what zone the passenger got on the train. The ticket taker would come through at the border of each zone to check that everyone’s ticket has been validated. This way, money can be subtracted from tickets rather than rides – and, the ticket taker would still be a valued member of society and the power of memory would be on display as an antidote to all of the outsourcing of memory that we have done.

In any event, it took me longer to get to work than it would have if I had taken the 1 train.