Taking the local trains (that is, SEPTA and New Jersey Transit) to New York City doesn't have to suck. It costs about half as much as Amtrak, and when it's operating properly, arrives perhaps a half-hour later, but at the same destination. What is it that makes the trip so unpleasant that i will, at least on my return trip, almost always choose Amtrak? One word: SEPTA. Their R7 Trenton trains are nearly always late, they're not properly coordinated with New Jersey Transit, the trains don't run 24 hours and offer spotty service, and the employees are almost alsways rude, uninformed, and surly.
Last week, I was on the train to Trenton, and it had showed up (typically) 10 minutes late. Because the window of opportunity to trnasfer to the connecting NJT is about 5 minutes once you get to Trenton, I politely asked the ticket collector if we were going to make the connection. She yelled at me. "I don't know, we gettin' there when we get there." I was taken aback.
As the train pulled into Trenton, I was standing in the vestibule with the ticket collector. "I know you're not in charge of the scheduling," I said, "but why is it that the R7 always seems to be running 10 minutes behind schedule?"
"It late this morning," she yelled at me, "It late when it come in this morning!"
"Well, yeah," I began. "But it's almost ALWAYS late. I take this line to New York almost every weekend, and it's always a gamble whether I'll make my connection."
"Well if you so worried, tak a earlier train."
"That doesn't make sense," I replied. "SEPTA runs one train an hour as does new jersey. Are you telling me that if I want to cathc a 12:03 train I should get up at 8:00 and arrive at 10:00 AM because SEPTA's unreliable? Is that what you mean?"
SEPTA's service is a joke and it's not a very funny one.
When I come home from New York after 8:00 PM, I invariably take Amtrak because SEPTA has a unique ability to make a 2 hour trip into a trip of over 3 hours. If you're unlucky enough to take the 10:08 PM NJT transit to Philadelphia, be ready for a LONG wait. The train arrives in Trenton at about 11:18, which is when SEPTA takes a break in their hourly service. It is a break that lasts until about 12:46 at night, which means that you miss last call.
Whether I take Amtrak or the local lines, I always bring a beer or two on the train. Those few times I have been stuck waiting for SEPTA in the Trenton station without my own beer, I've had to go across the street to the nearest bar, which is one I try to avoid. The bartenders are unfriendly; the crowd is middle-aged, suburban, and ugly; the prices are steep; and they're boycotting Grey Goose vodka, which is made in France and France didn't support the Iraq invasion. Quite frankly, what's annoying about this fact is not so if the barowner was really serious in boycotting the French, he shoudl remove all the French wine they serve and all the French cognac as well. Vodka isn't exactly France's big export. Yet the shelves remain stocked with Remy Martin and wines from all over France.
An observation: new Yorks subway stations are crawling with armed soldiers clad in camoflage and black berets, toting M-16s. This of course is to "ward off terrorists" and "make New Yorkers safer."
Well.
I can say that, from my perspective, these soldiers don't make me feel safer at all. They make me feel as if I live in a police state, which isn't so much hyperbole anymore. They also raise some questions. Camoflage is supposed to hide soldiers in the jungle: here in Penn station, it only makes them stand out. Also, those M-16s don't seem like the sort of thing that's going to ward off a terrorist who's outfitted him or herself with a belt loaded with dynamite. It may ward off someone trying to enter Penn station with an Uzi, but if a firefight was to break out between US soldiers and terrorists, civilians would only be caught in the crossfire: no one would be "protected." Call me a wacky nutjob, but I don't see some angry jihadist saying "I'd better not go detonate myself at Penn Station, because I might get shot." Once that guy decides to blow up his overcoat, no M-16 in the world is going to help. And a gun certainly can't detect someone who's probably going out of their way to be inconspicuous.
You know what would make me feel safer in Penn Station (and Smith-9th Street, and 14th Street/ Union Square, etc etc)?
EMTs and bomb-sniffing dogs.
Last week, I was on the train to Trenton, and it had showed up (typically) 10 minutes late. Because the window of opportunity to trnasfer to the connecting NJT is about 5 minutes once you get to Trenton, I politely asked the ticket collector if we were going to make the connection. She yelled at me. "I don't know, we gettin' there when we get there." I was taken aback.
As the train pulled into Trenton, I was standing in the vestibule with the ticket collector. "I know you're not in charge of the scheduling," I said, "but why is it that the R7 always seems to be running 10 minutes behind schedule?"
"It late this morning," she yelled at me, "It late when it come in this morning!"
"Well, yeah," I began. "But it's almost ALWAYS late. I take this line to New York almost every weekend, and it's always a gamble whether I'll make my connection."
"Well if you so worried, tak a earlier train."
"That doesn't make sense," I replied. "SEPTA runs one train an hour as does new jersey. Are you telling me that if I want to cathc a 12:03 train I should get up at 8:00 and arrive at 10:00 AM because SEPTA's unreliable? Is that what you mean?"
SEPTA's service is a joke and it's not a very funny one.
When I come home from New York after 8:00 PM, I invariably take Amtrak because SEPTA has a unique ability to make a 2 hour trip into a trip of over 3 hours. If you're unlucky enough to take the 10:08 PM NJT transit to Philadelphia, be ready for a LONG wait. The train arrives in Trenton at about 11:18, which is when SEPTA takes a break in their hourly service. It is a break that lasts until about 12:46 at night, which means that you miss last call.
Whether I take Amtrak or the local lines, I always bring a beer or two on the train. Those few times I have been stuck waiting for SEPTA in the Trenton station without my own beer, I've had to go across the street to the nearest bar, which is one I try to avoid. The bartenders are unfriendly; the crowd is middle-aged, suburban, and ugly; the prices are steep; and they're boycotting Grey Goose vodka, which is made in France and France didn't support the Iraq invasion. Quite frankly, what's annoying about this fact is not so if the barowner was really serious in boycotting the French, he shoudl remove all the French wine they serve and all the French cognac as well. Vodka isn't exactly France's big export. Yet the shelves remain stocked with Remy Martin and wines from all over France.
An observation: new Yorks subway stations are crawling with armed soldiers clad in camoflage and black berets, toting M-16s. This of course is to "ward off terrorists" and "make New Yorkers safer."
Well.
I can say that, from my perspective, these soldiers don't make me feel safer at all. They make me feel as if I live in a police state, which isn't so much hyperbole anymore. They also raise some questions. Camoflage is supposed to hide soldiers in the jungle: here in Penn station, it only makes them stand out. Also, those M-16s don't seem like the sort of thing that's going to ward off a terrorist who's outfitted him or herself with a belt loaded with dynamite. It may ward off someone trying to enter Penn station with an Uzi, but if a firefight was to break out between US soldiers and terrorists, civilians would only be caught in the crossfire: no one would be "protected." Call me a wacky nutjob, but I don't see some angry jihadist saying "I'd better not go detonate myself at Penn Station, because I might get shot." Once that guy decides to blow up his overcoat, no M-16 in the world is going to help. And a gun certainly can't detect someone who's probably going out of their way to be inconspicuous.
You know what would make me feel safer in Penn Station (and Smith-9th Street, and 14th Street/ Union Square, etc etc)?
EMTs and bomb-sniffing dogs.
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