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Orange Line doors are such big boors
By adamg on Tue, 12/10/2019 - 9:44am
The T reported delays on the Orange Line this morning because of door problems on one train. Or as Avrom Sutzkever reported from the very train in question:
We’ve been stuck in Chinatown station for 8 minutes with the door open on a full rush hour train
WHEN YOU’RE HAVING A PROBLEM THE CONDUCTOR HAS TO MAKE A FUCKING ANNOUNCEMENT
Are we here for another 30 seconds or 30 minutes????
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Comments
Ugh
Make America The 1950's Again
What did he say?
I agree. But often the larger problem is that you cant hear or understand the announcement even if it is made. Frequently people on a train look at each other and say "what did he/she say?"
The sound system is often completely broken on a car or the entire train, or the volume is so low you cant hear. Sometimes the volume is so loud it hurts your ears. Sometimes recorded announcements are not working at all so you can only hear the conductor. Sometimes the conductor is incomprehensible due to a foreign accent or due to the lazy slurring of speech that sets in when he/she has to repeat the same thing all day.
Many of us use the T often and can understand the repetitive announcements. But if you don't use the train often, you may not understand that the guy saying "dis is Azmah tray" means "this is an Ashmont train".
And before you jump on me for having a problem with some foreign accents, my long time partner has an accent. I communicate daily with friends and associates with accents . I appreciate and deeply respect that many immigrants work hard to learn English. That having been said, some T conductors have an accent or a way of speaking that is unintelligible and not appropriate for a job that requires critical communication of safety issues and delay updates, not to mention the names of stations.
What we have here
is a failure to communicate.
You're right, it's not just accents
Or if it is, all subway PA systems have the same accent, even though the people using them don't.
I was on a red line train yesterday, and after we sat a while someone used the PA to announce that there was a train ahead of us, we'd be moving soon. (Not a very useful announcement.)
From halfway down the car, I heard someone asking his friend "What did he say? I couldn't understand a word."
I didn't grow up here, but I have decades of practice puzzling out the announcements on the New York subway system, again when the people I'm with can't understand them. Context helps some: I know they're a lot more likely to say "a train ahead of us" than "a pain in the head" or "free tickets to a ball game."
MBTA failure to have their
MBTA failure to have their customer-facing employees communicate with the public is one of the most insane, infuriating, and frustrating aspects of the entire transit system. It would cost virtually nothing and would both improve public relations and reduce some of the improvised communication that happens now. MBTA's failure to do this can only be described as aggressive.