Turduckin. Animal, vegetable or mineral? Does it have a scent like burnt sulfure? Or a taste such as salt? Does it walk or slither? It is natural? It is a turkey merged with a chicken and duck. How medieval!
What is Teduncdancy? A term that like turduckin attempts to combine three things: the T, the dunces who manage and redundancy of its operation.
Downtown crossing at 8:30 had at least 200 people standing on the station. After a few minutes an announcement is delivered stating that the Red Line trains are delayed.
The 200 bodies standing in dejected acceptance clearly communicated that there were delays this morning. Not that a delay on the Red Line is anything new.
But to torture us with a redundant announcement stating the obvious, without at least adding new information – such as when to expect the next train – is a subtle cruelty. Waiting for a train, each blip from the PA system is heard with the hope that train finally will arrive. But instead it’s useless redundant words that tell us what we know without giving any hope of when this repeat of T-purgatory will end.
If Medeival torturers were still running the torture chambers of the world, and wanted to determine a subtle, devious form of psychic death by a thousand cuts, nothing could satisfy the requirement better than urban public transportation, especially that called the T.
To create the appearance of improvement, but in fact merely covering the failures with a illusion, we are daily inundated with useless announcements. The aural space of platforms are littered with Big Cousin voices repeatedly announcing the arrival of trains. Internal advertisements for the T are blabbered over the PA advertising that the trains can be used to attend sporting events. If I am already use the T why do I need reminder to use it?
What are the priorities of the T managers? Most are probably genuine in a desire to keep the system functioning. Most probably are not aware of the medieval look at some stations (Shawmut with it stalagtites that hung suspended for years) or the redundancies of announcements that provide useless information.
Yet, the totality of their efforts barely break the mediocrity. There are times when individual trains run seemingly well. It is possible to enjoy a ride from point A to point B without unreasonable waiting and delays. If the occasions when the system’s components were less frequent then the successful trips would be more noticeable.
But the T then proceeds to add and support another thousand cuts of annoyances and irritations. Not only the redundant announcements stating the obvious, but ignored reminders to not smoke on platforms; add the tolerance of electronic noise that makes a subway car sound like a swamp of mosquitoes, poorly placed police acting as voyeurs instead of policing. Adding antennas that add another layer of noise via cell phones. Spending money on cameras that turn T staff into voyeurs. Installing US flags at nearly every station – how many thousands were spent to display the US flag? How does spending money on displaying flags help maintain an infrastructure that has been disintegrating for decades?
What is needed is simple transportation. Getting from here to there. What is not needed are redundant and useless announcements; what is needed are cars where a person can stand or sit in companionable – repectful – peaceful, quiet, not necessarily silence but a respectful recognition that there are others in the room. Where today there is chaos – a chaos that manifests in disordered schedules, messed up priorities, and psychic insults on a daily basis.
Perhaps there lies the Medieval obsession in discerning order. There world was a world of unintelligible chaos that needed understanding, that needed theories of understanding and explanation.
With the T we already have what is needed to generate order, to push back the chaos. We need only implement what is already known.
Make the trains run on time, give information that is useful and helpful, push back the noise of MP3 players and cell phones, keep the cars clean. Use the resources – Clean up the physical cars of the T.
We need a 21st century transportation system that fulfills its essential purpose: transportation. There are obviously problems to overcome. Misplaced priorities and bad past choices that allowed important stations to disintegrate while spending billions to expand into an infinity of debt, barbarians are waiting at the door of every subway car and bus.
What are the basics of a good public transportation system? Dependability and reliability take first place. Safety. Cleanliness. These are the obvious. What is not obvious is a sense that the system is running well and that when problems arise that solutions are implemented.
Does that sense exist today? NO! Today the T is chaos. Whether the trains run well or not to use public transportation is to choose to step into a chaotic environment where there is no order or calm. Where there is nothing but anxiety, agitation and annoyance.
Even if there was Mussolini of the T, with all of the other daily irritations, the T would still fail to be anything more than an necessary evil.
