Re: [Mpls] Light rail farecard machines to be in three languages? Free riders??

[Jim MCGUIRE]

I read this message several times trying to figure out what the problem is here.

First off, this is clearly written by an opponent of light rail. It looks to me as if Mr. Jester expected to find something in the article to make him mad and then succeeded.

As to fares, I'm not certain what the best collection system is. It doesn't bother me, per se, that it will be "voluntary", but neither would I disagree with a compulsory system. The bottom line, however, is that transit isn't designed to make money. (How much money did 35W make last year?)

As to the rant about ENGLISH. It's just that, a rant. There's nothing wrong with designing a system that acknowledges that we have non-English reading residents (citizens and non-citizens). Plus one can simply take a look at the route and realize that this system goes through the West Bank, which has a large Somali community, and crosses Lake St which has a large Hispanic community. Would Mr. Jester prefer that if people have trouble reading English they not ride the train?

Jim McGuire
Como






----Original Message Follows----
From: "Stephen Jester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mpls" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Mpls] Light rail farecard machines to be in three languages? Free riders??
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 08:19:46 -0500

When I read this story yesterday, I nearly punched my monitor. It made me
that angry. Why? I'll tell you why.

My wife and I were in Washington DC a month ago celebrating our anniversary.
Neither of us had used the subway in DC before, but all of our travel books
said that it was cheap and easy to use. And the books were right. The
station was four blocks from our hotel, and was located in the George
Washington University area. You would take and esclator down, and the first
thing you notice is farecard machines. Guess what? They are in ENGLISH!!!!
All the maps? ENGLISH! Anyway, you would stick your money in the machine,
press a button for a farecard and the machine would spit it out. And typed
on the card is the value. Then you walk to the gates that lead to the
platforms. You take your farecard stick in into a slot in the front of the
gate, and it reads your card and spits it out through the top, and the gate
opens. You get on the train, and once you arrive at you destination station,
you have to use the gates again. Why? Fares are based on how far you have
gone from your original destination. So you stick your card in again, just
like before, and if you have enough value on your card, it comes out the top
and the gate opens. It's very cheap, considering a cab from our hotel was 10
bucks, the subway was 2.20.

Why this all ties into our LRT is the story in yesterdays paper. Feeling
like I have some knowledge now of how this form of transportation works, I
just couldn't believe my eyes. All fares are going to be based on the honor
system? HELLO!!!!! This thing is not going to make a dime. It won't even be
able to pay for itself. What kills me is you have the machines and
instructions in different languages, and the way you enforce the fares is by
using police officers?? I guess we better get officers that speak Hmong,
Spanish, Somailian, Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Ect.. I can see the
stories now... "Blacks sick of be profiled on LRT." "Somali community upset
that officers held fare busters that cannot understand English."

It just goes to show that as an American society, we all need to be able to
communicate in one lanaguage. English. Period. End of Story.

Stephen Jester
McKinley


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