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| Re: It's Official In Staten Island! (SIR) (886397) | |||
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Re: It's Official In Staten Island! (SIR) |
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Posted by Michael549 on Wed Jan 13 22:51:59 2010, in response to It's Official In Staten Island! (SIR), posted by Union Turnpike on Wed Jan 13 18:09:40 2010. Very soon there will be reports, rumors and postings on the forums and possibly the media that folks are getting free rides from the Stapleton station, and headed south. Some might even post that folks are WALKING from the Stapleton station to the ferry for a free ride to Manhattan, even though the distance is rather long. As if there is any time-advantage to such a journey, let alone a transportation advantage for such a trek.There may be indeed be outraged citizens reporting folks taking a bus from the ferry terminal to the Stapleton station, and then catching the train from there, as if the non-rush hour 30 and 60 minute waits between trains were not enough of a discouragement. As always the debate was never really about ridership and the few who actually ever used the Tompkinsville station and a short trek to the ferry terminal -- but really was more about the idea that there are folks who could in theory "beat the system". On Staten Island one can always catch the "next" ferry, even if that one is not the one you wanted, or that you're now 30 or 60 minutes late to your destination. Rush hour frequencies of 15 and 20 minutes between boats is not heaven - make no mistake about that. It had been established through the rush hour and regular train schedules, the number and frequency of trains that actually stop at the Tompkinsville station, the timing and frequency of ferry service - made such a trek ill-advised for persons who actually wanted to catch the ferry with any sort of timeliness was rather small. This was debated on the forums repeatedly, some using theory, while others using actual facts on the ground. When the boats run at 30 and 60 minutes apart - does anyone really believe that most folks will gladly sit out a boat when they actually HAVE get to a destination, especially on time? There are plenty of times when the SIR train does not make the boat, and I have seen plenty of steamed folk -- and there are plenty of times when the SIR train arrives just before the boat was ready to leave. Leaving little time for someone to walk the distance, and still catch that same boat. So from now on the debate - will move to the Stapleton station, where folks will again be "up in arms" about a supposed free ride on the SIR and the ferries. Even if such a trek is unlikely to produce any time benefit, unlikely to produce actual numbers of folks making such a trek, unlikely to ever be used by the majority of persons commenting upon such a journey -- that wont' stop them from saying something. Why folks will be "up in arms" - because it is the idea that somebody can "beat the system". That idea rather than anything else drives this discussion, it is the hidden agenda. The idea that somebody somewhere is getting something for free, that irks others, that drives the impetus to DO SOMETHING! So let the new debate (or rather the old debate) begin. Mike |
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