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T as canary in the coal mine
By david_yamada on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 9:07pm
This evening I boarded the Orange Line at State Street for my usual trip back home to JP. Immediately I was greeted by a powerful odor, emanating from a guy who was sitting there with what looked like all his worldly belongings. A few stops later, onto the train came another fellow, obviously mentally ill, who spent the trip mumbling and cursing to himself.
Please don't get me wrong: I'm not blaming these poor folks for using the T to have a halfway comfortable place to spend a cold evening. And believe me, having lived in NYC for 12 years, I've seen a lot on a subway.
Rather, my point is that the T has become a clear indicator of this terrible economy: More crowded trains, less civility, and more apparently homeless folks. It's becoming a more unpleasant experience, and I believe it's likely to get worse as the year unfolds -- at least until the weather warms up a bit.
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Comments
What?
There are always bums, vagrants, crazies and drunks on the T. What does that have to do with the economy? This post makes no sense, but thanks for sharing.
point is...
...the lousy economy has caused more people to use the T get around, a lot more stress that finds outlets in public ways, and more homeless looking for a warm place.
Not so sure ...
After riding the T for a couple of decades, in warm weather and cold weather, in bad winters and mild winters, I think this has much more to do with the cold and snow and ice than the economy. Where you will see the homeless problem is in the families that stay in the library after school hours and then walk to the shelter at dinner time.
I think the T being more crowded was related to fuel prices. If anything, I think it has been a bit less crowded lately (then again, I work in the financial district). If students are living further out and commuting because the rents are lower, you might have more crowding on the green and red lines though.
People being rude? In Boston? No more than usual, IMHO.
The T may be more crowded due to gas prices
But this started happening before the economy really went south, the people crowding it are commuters with jobs to go to...not smelly drunks.
yes ... and no
The T is often crowded much later at night than it used to be, so it isn't just commuters. I think more people started using the T this year and stayed with it due to the economy.
That said, the smelly drunks do seem to concentrate during the very cold times - we went two weeks with an average temp of about 20F! The powers that be simply don't kick people out in that kind of weather - not during the times when the shelters are closed. That situation is pretty stable, but there may be less room at the shelters in bad economic times, too.
Mr. Yamada
You are drawing conclusions based upon the doom and gloom that has been bestowed upon us by the media. I really don't think you have a point here. Yes people have lost jobs, but many of those jobs you are hearing about around the city are white-collar high paying jobs. These people didn't turn into degenerates over night, they probably already took the T and they probably aren't commuting in the city because they don't have a job to go to anymore.
Do you really think the drunk vagrant you saw was driving around the city before the recession? Seriously, you are grasping for a correlation that just isn't there.
Agreed
I think Mr. Yamada's hypothesis is interesting to consider, but the other factors mentioned here are more probable.
I haven't yet been homeless, but I've used the T to keep warm. As a teen, hanging with other semi-thugs on Dorchester street corners, we would occasionally all pile onto the T on a frigid night. For 25 cents - or whatever it cost then - it was a warm rolling clubhouse until 1am or so.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
I'm sure
Suldog, I'm sure you were a nice semi-thug.
Or one can hope. :)
I'm totally with david_yamata on this one, anon-a-mouse
This:
is definitely true, but, due to the present economy the above-mentioned situation is only going to get worse until the warmer weather arrives, and it'll probably get even worse next winter too, before it gets better, if it does.
ok
Can't say that makes much sociological sense as the worsening economy isn't pushing people en masse into bumhood...but believe what you would like. I think the weather is more likely to blame. It would take years for newfound jobless folks to precipitate down to the level of stinky drunk vagrant.
It's a combination of weather and the worsening economy, imho.
This has been an extremely cold, snowy winter so far, and of course, more hobos are going into the subways to warm up, especially because the shelters are often filled to capacity. Also, while not every jobless person resorts to bum-hood, as you're calling it, some people in that situation, for all kinds of reasons, are more apt to end up that way than others.
multiple factors
Anon, I think you've been continually confusing what I said. No, a suddenly unemployed person usually doesn't become a homeless alcoholic overnight, and I never claimed that. What I am suggesting is that the bad economy has led to the T being more crowded, put people in lousier moods that manifest themselves underground, and that there's an apparent uptick in homeless folks camping out in the T.
I floated that as an observation, and some have cordially disagreed in the fine spirit of give and take here, making good points along the way.
Just saw on the news
Ridership is up for the year, but december 2008 was less than 2007. The T attributes this to the economy. Which makes sense that the T would have less ridership when there are less people that need to commute to job. No disrespect sir, but I just think your observation that more people would be ridng the T due to the worsening economy is pretty flawed.
whatever
anon, I'm gonna let this one go after this, but I get the feeling you're trying to ride me on this one, and I'm not sure why. I floated my opinion, have no problem with folks taking issue (and several made good points doing so), but after the third or fourth time of your basically saying the same thing with a certain level of snarkiness, it gets old.
-David
Not really trying to ride you
I just get the feeling that the worldwide "sky is falling" mentality has led you to draw a somewhat baseless conclusion. Sometimes I have a tough time letting things go. This one just kinda bugs me because we as a people are all lamenting the economic situation of our country to death that we are looking for every little sign that things are bad. I think you were really reaching on this one. That's all. I set out to shoot you down on this one because I just think its a silly conclusion to draw. My delivery is snarky, that's just how I am. Its perhaps a problem I have, I hope no offense was taken. Its nothing personal.
fair enough
Thanks for the explanation -- I appreciate it.
-David
Cool
Have a great weekend!