Traveling in Discomfort
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
I spent some time on the road this week and I have to say, I can’t wait for whatever plans the White House has for a high-speed rail network to come to fruition. Going to the airport is never a welcome task. It’s like playing a game show, where you get bonus points if you can figure out a set of flights that will get you where you want to go when you want to get there for a reasonable amount of money and without any serious delays. Now think about that a minute and consider the transit authority in your area. Would this be anywhere near an acceptable situation for public transit?
As I went through airport security earlier this week and dutifully removed my laptop from its case, every ounce of metal from my body, my liquids in their 3-oz.-or-less bag, my belt and my shoes, I looked around for a minute and took stock of my situation. It was late morning on Tuesday and there were maybe a half dozen people going through security. And I counted 19 TSA personnel standing at the two checkpoints with several more in a nearby office with its door open. In transit, we hear about it when a couple agency employees are together talking where a commuter can see them as they walk by. And here where nearly two dozen airport employees were essentially standing around, no one raised a question. No one thought twice about it.
As I waited for my plane, I read an article in the latest Scientific American that said the ban on liquids was going to cease by the end of 2009. That’s great. Does it mean I’ll get my shoes back? I understand the nature of being safe, but since the individual who tried to blow up a plane with bombs in his shoes was caught, how many millions of us have had to remove our shoes to go through security for … well, nothing? Couldn’t a couple years of safety prove we don’t need to continue doing this?
And, of course, my return flight was delayed. Before you stop reading because this is beginning to sound like an anti-airline rant, bear with me a minute. My flight was delayed a little more than an hour. After about 45 minutes waiting for some mysterious mechanical malfunction to be fixed, I overheard one airline employee ask the two others standing at the podium whether or not he should go out and ask the mechanics for an ETA on the situation. Her response was to tell him he could if he felt like he needed to. They’d be told when the plane was fixed — basically, not my problem.
Think again about the transit authority in your area. If the buses or trains are running more than 10 minutes behind, commuters are calling for somebody’s head. And yet, airlines are consistently delayed for numerous reasons and most of the general public just shrugs its shoulders. I guess we’ve just been desensitized to the whole situation. We take it for granted that we have to strip to enter an airport and will be relying on luck more than a schedule for our planes to arrive on time.
You know the old adage, “as long as you keep the trains running on time� That has been ingrained into the public consciousness to the degree we in transit take credit for making sure the trains are on time and how long buses can last between breakdowns. Transit is on time personified. It is setting a schedule and sticking to it. It is making things flow like clockwork. And we move millions upon millions of people a day largely without missing a beat. As people head to Capitol Hill for next week’s APTA Legislative Conference, let’s keep that in our back pocket when talking to our elected officials about our importance in the scheme of things.
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Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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March 7th, 2009 at 2:35 am
“If the buses or trains are running more than 10 minutes behind, commuters are calling for somebody’s head.”
Perhaps the difference is in the perception.
When you visit an airport, mostly any airport, the terminal is clean, and most if not all of the employees look professional.
And, there’s usually credible information on the delay.
Back to transit and commuter rail. Commuters tollerate dirt, grime, and random acts of vandalism. Operating employees look sloppy and are ill equipped to constantly answer customer service issues.
But maybe, for sake of argument, let’s say your transit agency or commuter rail line looks pretty good. When you are an airline passenger (don’t ask me why), you will tollerate most delays and service changes/adjustments. You’ll get there when you get there, and make do. Whatever keeps you from wading in the Hudson River, right? However, if you are transit dependent, you are in a ‘smaller box’…working with a tighter schedule. To ‘the uninitiated’, buses and trains are not high tech, and any IDIOT should be able to figure it out. If buses or trains are late, it’s laziness on someone’s part.
Perception.
It’s probably a good opportunity to look at ourselves and see how we look in the mirror.