August 14, 2006
SEPTA's Yellow Suitcase
SEPTA is reportedly the first transit system in the country to use them - so looks like local riders will be guinea pigs. That ought to be fun. We can't help but wonder if this means we'll need to start getting to our bus and trainstops an hour or two early as we already do for flights - according to the KYW segment airports don't use them because the device requires 2 minutes to complete a scan on a bag. With all the messenger bags and briefcases we see during our daily commute, scanning all the passengers could take ages.
Now, we don't mind a little inconvenience in the name of safety (we like our limbs in their original order of attachment, thanks), but this seems like a rather expensive and ridiculous measure to take. We know there are some noxious fumes on SEPTA buses from time to time, but we aren't aware of it being a known and/or suspected major gateway for the transportation of liquid explosives. We'd much rather see them tackle the more immediate problems of passenger safety - such as ensuring working signals and adding additional security to their station stops to deter violence, rather than jumping on the terrorism bandwagon.
Image via Wikipedia
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Yes, we all know that they are going to f*ck this up in their normal pathetic way even though it is New York that these evil terrorists are going after. You would expect an actual competent police force like the one in New York to get some of these, if they maybe actually worked. There has to be some kickbacks somewhere, as normal Philadelphia procedure.
Of course SEPTA is going to screw this up. Remember, this is the same department of "rent-a-cops" who actually stored a suspected suspicious device found at Powelton Rail Yards a couple years ago for a week at an unsecured locker before notifying the feds. Truth be told, the only reason half of these clowns are even employed by SEPTA is because PPD probably wouldn't hire them.
Out of all the transit systems I've riden post-9/11, SEPTA's "Transit Police" is, hands down, one of the least pro-active departments out there. The brass at 1234 Market doesn't care about safety, and that attitude seems to filter down to the rank-and-file.
SEPTA "Transit Police" seems more concerned about becoming mass transit's equivelent of a James Bond flick to actually care that there have been at least 3 or 4 violent assaults on the subways over the past year, at least two of which were fatal (the incident at the subway-surface station near the Penn campus and the Olney shooting). That's not counting the two attempted rapes that occured in the past 12 months. By contrast, the Washington Metro has reported 0 - repeat, 0 - homicides since at least 2004 (last reported murder was 2003, unknown date).
Yet, when SEPTA claims that "crime has decreased 90 percent since 1990" none of the Rotating Resumes at 1234 Market are willing to provide statistical data to back that claim up. Oh, sure, we'll brief the board about crime data, but we just won't tell the public the truth. Typical SEPTA bullshit...
And, to top it all off, SEPTA's answer to "Bagdhad Bob" Richard Maloney claims that there's no major surge in violent crime. Nah, he wouldn't know, he's too busy either riding the relatively safer Regional Rail system or getting driven to 40th St from 69th St Terminal in a "Transit Police" car during a recent long-term El shutdown...
Perhaps instead of tokens and TransPasses, SEPTA riders may want to start bringing bodyguards and/or body armor when commuting...