M.T.A.: Mess With Our Heads, but Not with Our Butts

(Photo taken at Sheepshead Bay station courtesy of one of our readers)

Last week, I wrote to you about cigarette butts. Today, I want to talk to you about the real thing – our Sheepshead butts.

To all of our readers who agree with seatless subways: Just go straight to the comments section and let me have it – because unlike Fern Cohen at NYC Metblogs, who is able to see the advantages of having no seats during her commute (yes, I know she was being sarcastic, but I can’t laugh about it), I don’t see those awful nail-clippers being deterred.

When I read in August about the New York City Transit Authority’s plan to run an experiment on rush hour subway riders by offering them standing room only seatless subways, I was so outraged that the only way I could deal with it was by pretending the plan was going to go away.

Read more about how this will affect Sheepshead Bay after the jump.

One of the things that really bothered me was the presentation of this plan as if it was some kind of real experiment. I am surprised that – in a city as full with academicians, researchers, Ph.D.s , and medical professionals as New York City is – there wasn’t some major outpouring of protest. Can New Yorkers be experimented on during their period of utmost stress – on the way to and from work – and it be considered okay? Where is the protocol?

Forget about the period of utmost stress and think about what can stress cause to you. As far as I know, before someone gets experimented on in any field of study, each study participant has to agree to it. At least, compensate the study subjects. Maybe, let all people enter into the subway without charge during the times when they’re conducting their experiments.

Now, that there is talk again of seatless subways becoming a reality (along with the proposed cuts to train services), Sheepshead Bay residents stand to suffer. Getting a slight chance for a seat on the train during rush hour was one of the very few benefits of entering the subway at our main Sheepshead Bay stop. One of the things that can bring a good start to a long and stressful trek into the city or other boroughs, is that miniscule chance of getting a seat.

This chance will soon be zero. So all those people who have completely abandoned staying clear of safety standing zones (see picture above), won’t need to risk their lives. It might just be that they are being forced to perch precariously at the dangerous edge, because there’s no room on the platform now that ridership is up to a record high. But, with the way these people stand in front of the doors, barge onto the subway without even giving room for exiting passengers, and race for the coveted seats not even looking back to see who they just knocked to the ground, is proof to me that seats are their main goal.

It may be that the MTA already knows the results of the experiment: they can shove even more Sheepshead, oops, I mean NY sardines into the branded tin cans they call mass transportation. They might as well lock those seats and throw away the key – because pretty soon, they’ll figure that if we could live without seats in the morning rush, we don’t need them in the midday rush, afterschool rush, after Broadway show rush, evening rush, midnight rush, and holiday rush.

What exactly do they hope to find out about subway riders and how we feel about seatless subways? I think I can save them a lot of time and effort: it’s not good or safe that we have to stand on a moving train with our briefcase, winter coat, lunch bag, for one or two hours and there’s no place to hold onto. Is that enough data for you, MTA?

It’s bad enough that most straphangers do not have a strap or pole to hold onto, but now they when the train comes to a sudden stop, there won’t be anyone in the seat to catch us when we fall, as I have witnessed (and experienced quite a few times, myself).

Readers, let’s nip this problem in the bud. Send out an S.O.S. (Save Our Seats) to the MTA and tell them what you think about losing your miniscule chance of getting a seat on your (minimum) one-hour ride to the big city.

Pete Donohue, in his Daily News article, said that Gene Russianoff from the Straphangers’ Campaign is expecting that “the biggest complaints may come from riders who board a near-empty train at the first stops, only to find they have to stand”.

So, don’t just sit there – live life on the edge. Stand up and complain!