PROGRESS OR BIG BROTHER?
What's with The Gestapo tactics? What next a police state!
I understand things need to be tried, I mean a century of tokens, it's hard to just rid ourselves of old habits. And I know metrocards are pretty new. And even newer are these machines, these 'Select Bus Service Station's (as it called on www.nyc.gov website, on its +BusRapidTransit page), sitting near the bus stop. You need to now use,m in order to ride the 'select' MTA buses in certain sections in New York.
Instead of using your card to board the bus, you must insert the metro card into a pseudo ATM, it hopefully returns the card, removing the fee from it and then hopefully spits out a receipt. Which without it you are screwed.
Fine, so now taking the bus has turned into a tram ride at Disneyland. Great! Except now it seems we have check points. Where uniformed patrols enter as they did the other day, on my long journey into Manhattan. Three uniformed men, entered the bus, preceded to do a head count, sizing up the passengers and then one by one, or in the case of this day's once over, a second 'officer' looked over my receipt to prove we didn't sneak on the bus. I don't mind so much the once over, I do although not enjoy being looked upon like a criminal until proven innocent!
And what if we did? Is it simply a ticket? Are you booked? Are you now the Scarlet Passenger?
At first glance I was a little nervous about the new system. Personally it means walking an extra two Avenues, long Avenues… but mostly, any time there's a new way of doing anything different when it comes to making things better, progress its called, there sometimes a hidden agenda behind it. Hidden from view, that somehow bites us all in the ass afterwards.
Perfect example is the iPhone's fingerprint ID, before it was just security. To get into it. Now it's everything.... who needs credit cards!
All I know is that when the enforcers of MTA spent wasting close to fifteen minutes making the passengers of the bus, or at least myself, feel like we were guilty of some crime. The old guilty until proven innocent aroma filled the air. And it didn't make me feel very good. And of course this, advancement made me late for work. What next armed men with their drug sniffing dogs? Big brother indeed. We complained about Guiliani, perhaps we should start worrying about the current man in charge, before it's too late. A little paranoid, perhaps....
For those interested in learning about the new system, we New Yorkers are now supposed to know… here's a link:
Just one man's opinion
© Neil Feigeles, Neilizms, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014
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