Monday, March 26, 2007
The MTA cares about your safety. Yeh, right!
Some time back, I had first hand evidence that the MTA doesn’t, in fact, care about what its passengers think. I felt I had cause to complain about their service and did so. (For details of the incident, see: A Swipe at the MTA, dated September 16th) They used to claim that they cared about what their passengers (they call us customers *) think. I couldn’t find this statement on their website prior to writing this. I received a form response, even though this was available verbatim on their website, and didn’t fit my complaint. My complaint about the response was ignored.
A little over a week ago, I found the lie in their current slogan: “We’re serious about safety – your safety”. The stairs at Bay Ridge Avenue Station are not usually shovelled after snow in anything like a timely manner. On Saturday, March 17th, there was a fair amount of snow. By the time I used the station at about 1:30pm, the storm had passed; many people had already cleared paths in front of their properties and many others were struggling to do so.
The stairs to the station had been untouched. I held tight to the railing, and on the first step, my foot went out from under me. I went down the rest of the way holding on with both hands. Relieved at having made it down in one piece, and angry that doing so was so treacherous, I told the employee who was leaving the toll booth exactly how dangerous those stairs were and the likelihood that the MTA would be faced with a hefty lawsuit if somebody got hurt. He looked at me as if I was from another planet, then continued on his way without saying a word. The woman in the booth said she had called it in and was very nice. I told her I was horrified at the attitude of her colleague, and thanked her.
* When I worked for Arriva Buses in London, they insisted that calling passengers Customers proves a greater commitment to ‘customer’ service. I strongly disagreed. I don’t know what focus groups these people question, but they aren’t real people. Passenger is more personal. It more closely reflects what I am. True, I give them my money, but they carry me to my destination and will hopefully do so safely and decently. Dehumanise me, and cattle trucks with long delays might seem more acceptable (to them). When I worked in a shoe shop as a teenager, buyers were my customers. When I drove buses, I drove passengers, whatever my employer said. Their lives were in my hands. I would be happy if the MTA had the same attitude.
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A little over a week ago, I found the lie in their current slogan: “We’re serious about safety – your safety”. The stairs at Bay Ridge Avenue Station are not usually shovelled after snow in anything like a timely manner. On Saturday, March 17th, there was a fair amount of snow. By the time I used the station at about 1:30pm, the storm had passed; many people had already cleared paths in front of their properties and many others were struggling to do so.
The stairs to the station had been untouched. I held tight to the railing, and on the first step, my foot went out from under me. I went down the rest of the way holding on with both hands. Relieved at having made it down in one piece, and angry that doing so was so treacherous, I told the employee who was leaving the toll booth exactly how dangerous those stairs were and the likelihood that the MTA would be faced with a hefty lawsuit if somebody got hurt. He looked at me as if I was from another planet, then continued on his way without saying a word. The woman in the booth said she had called it in and was very nice. I told her I was horrified at the attitude of her colleague, and thanked her.
* When I worked for Arriva Buses in London, they insisted that calling passengers Customers proves a greater commitment to ‘customer’ service. I strongly disagreed. I don’t know what focus groups these people question, but they aren’t real people. Passenger is more personal. It more closely reflects what I am. True, I give them my money, but they carry me to my destination and will hopefully do so safely and decently. Dehumanise me, and cattle trucks with long delays might seem more acceptable (to them). When I worked in a shoe shop as a teenager, buyers were my customers. When I drove buses, I drove passengers, whatever my employer said. Their lives were in my hands. I would be happy if the MTA had the same attitude.
