A little note from a Philly expatriate currently living in central North Carolina who took a trip home to all that is Philly and she remembered some of the good while experiencing some of the too-soon-forgotten bad...
I moved to rural NC in early 08 and came back home to Philly in September. Guess I got so cozy in the hospitable South, that I forgot my 22 years commuting on SEPTA.
Instead of facing the traffic and driving from Media into Center City, I decide to take the trolley and El. Inside the piss-infested windowless station, I found a crumpled schedule and read how I could get an all day pass for $8. Great, I thought, I need to go to several places and this will help. Stupidly thought, anyway.
It's the middle of the day and I board the nearly empty trolley, smile (as I've been retrained to do down here) and said, "I'd like to purchase a day pass." "Not here," says the driver without so much as turning her neck to glance at me. I wait for more information. None coming. She is totally ignoring me. Sigh. "Well, I'm visiting from out of state and I'm going into town and need a transfer." "No change," she replies with about as much interest in me as an air molecule. Poor tourists...
There's a TOTAL disconnect between SEPTA PR and SEPTA workers. The schedule makes it sound so easy to be a visitor. The drivers treat you like you're just another Philly cockroach in their way. How could I have forgotten this in just under a year? Silly me.
My last 2 years of commuting required passing through colorful 69th St. I think what finalized my decision to leave Philly was the day two seeing-eye dogs were in a vicious fight next to the customer service booths and no one was blinking an eye.
Not all SEPTA memories are bad. There was the time I left my purse behind on Christmas Eve - the driver turned it in and the many SEPTA folks I dealt with that day could not have been kinder. I slid a nice tip to a few of them that day!
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2 comments:
This is so true. I also find this especially true for many of the trolley drivers. I moved to West Philly, and had little experience riding the trolleys. Quickly did I learn that it made me anxious to walk up to a trolley without feeling completely and utterly prepared for every possible scenario. Potentially including driving the trolley myself. Ha.
When you know there's such a lack of support from the workers, and you're a Philly native, it does make one worry about tourists.
As far as using cellphones on SEPTA vehicles, I want to tell you this little doosy. I was coming home on the 123 bus one night, and there was a young black girl sitting behind me having a profanity-laced conversation about a personal family matter. I felt like turning around and telling her to watch her language, but I didn't. Like most young people today, she would have given me some attitude like "It's a free country and I'll do what I want." or "Just mind your own business!".
Also, one Saturday morning, while I on the 109 bus coming back from my Weight Watchers meeting in Springfield, a young white girl got on the bus and yelling on her cellphone. An older had seen this and told the girl to keep her voice down, but the girl got really nasty to her and told her to mind her own business.
Speaking of the 123 bus, it has become more like a social gathering. A lot of them come from the city and who, just like me, work out there in King of Prussia. Not only do they talk and chit-chat on their cellphones, but they listen to their ipods playing that horrible music, and playing with their cellphones. One time, there was a young black girl sitting right behind me with that awful musing coming out of whatever she was listening to. I very politely asked her to turn it down, and she did.
I don't care if they talk on their cellphones, but they need to be considerate of the other passengers as well. This is a bus, not a social gathering.
Thank you.
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