SEPTAfail in the Inky

The Inky's Natalie Pompilio shot me an email a couple weeks ago to talk about SEPTAfail.com and other sites that mock or parody companies. I was more than happy to talk about it. The story is online now [thanks Natalie], but unfortunately, none of the sites mentioned in the article in today's Style & Soul section have their links included in the online version. LinkFAIL.

The ying and yang of other sites mentioned:

• Etsy :: Regretsy
• Facebook :: Lamebook
• Walmart :: People of Walmart

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Rider Rant: Nyssa

Here's a rider rant from Day 1 of the SEPTA strike of 2009.

I take a total of 3 buses to get to college, needless to say I already massively hate SEPTA and suffer from their douchbaggery daily, but this is unreal. SEPTA went on strike this morning, I was in bed more than half asleep when I heard on the news that they were on strike. I screamed NOOOOOOOOoooo, not that it properly expressed my rage.

Yesterday I was at 69th street station, going to buy my weekly pass, I asked the lady at the window for a weekly and then she asked me debit or credit, debit. Then she chats it up with the lady in the window next to her, FORGETS what I said just a minute ago about wanting debit and then I enter my pin. I was walking away from the window, looked at my card and saw that it was not a weekly, but a monthly.

Since it's SEPTA, I had to get to my bus so I'm stuck with this monthly pass. To sum up window lady freaking sold me a monthly because she was just too busy chatting it up with her bud than to pay attention, and on top of that I'm 70 dollars in the hole, money that could have been spent on a cute dress, and SEPTA is on strike for god knows how long. If I do happen to see anyone on strike, I might start a riot.

I will note that SEPTA has announced exchanges and credits for weekly/monthly passes which are redeemable starting at the end of the month. On a side note, apparently SEPTA Regional Rail conductors were punching TransPasses if you used them to ride Regional Rail during the strike. They were supposed to tell you they were going to be punching the passes (so you can't get a refund), but didn't always do so. From the same article:

Such punched passes, and the TrailPasses that kept being honored for regional rails, are not eligible for credits or exchange, SEPTA said.

Unpunched weekly and monthly passes are eligible, even if they were used before the strike.

"We only brought out the punch when there was a service disruption," explained SEPTA spokesman Jerri Williams.

Generally, people trying to use a TransPass - usually honored on buses, subways and trolleys - to ride the regional rails were told they might want to purchase tickets instead, she said.

"We hope that at the time they used it that was explained to them," Williams said.

"We hope," Williams says. Oh SEPTA, you truly are not even close to "Getting There"

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Rider Rant: Sarah

Here's a story from reader, and friend, Sarah, recounting a lovely trip back from the shore on SEPTA...

Coming home from a weekend down the shore, I took PATCO to 8th Street. I toyed with the idea of walking home, but realized it had started to drizzle at that point. "No problem!" thought I, "The El will take me the rest of the way."

I only had to wait a few minutes for the next train. I was standing behind a big group of people who were slowly shuffling into the train. There was a bit of a bottle neck and I stood just outside the doors, waiting for the group to clear some space. Standing half in, half out of the train seemed like a bad idea.

I've made many good decisions and I've made many bad decisions in my life. Staying on the platform was one of them.

The little orange lights flashed and I realized the doors were closing. "The hell? I'm not on the train yet. Neither are the two people behind me." "Doors closing," announced Mrs. Septa. I swung my arm between the doors, thinking it'd be like an elevator and stay open. Then I realized this had the potential to be one of those bad decisions and pulled my arm back out.

The doors closed, right in my face.

I turned my head towards the conductor-end of the train and shouted "HEY! WE WANT TO GET ON THE TRAIN."

The train pulled away.

I felt like I was back in gym class, getting picked last for dodgeball. "Did I really just get rejected by the El?" I turned to the two gentlemen who were also denied. "Did that just happen?" Both were as stunned as I was. The conductor would have had to seen us, if he had glanced down the side of the train. I wasn't standing next to one of the columns, I was definitely between it and the train. Weren't they supposed to look? Make sure everyone was on the train before closing the doors? What if stroller or wheel chair was having trouble navigating the gap?

I marched up to the ticket window and explained what had just happened. The woman was extraordinarily concerned and suggested that I log a complaint. She turned away and I assumed she was getting some sort of official complaint form. Instead, she handed me a piece of cardboard from the back of a stack of tickets, with a phone number written on it.

Back on the platform, I made sure to note the exact time (2:42pm) the next train pulled into the platform, so I could explain to whomever took my call that it was the train before that had kicked dirt in my face. When I called, however, the Septa customer service rep insisted on having the car number. Which I did not write down. He promised to make some inquiries and call me back.

About a half hour later, he did. Miracles.

He told me that without a car number, it was impossible to figure out which conductor it was, but that there had been a train through 8th Street at 2:36 and one at 2:45 and he was pretty sure it was this good-for-nothing female conductor in the 2:45 train, because she's getting older, you see, and...

I cut him off there and explained that it couldn't have been the female conductor in the 2:45, because I was pretty sure that was the train that had actually picked me up.

"Oh," he said, followed by a bit of silence. "Well, I can't go to the union without a car number anyway."

I'll give him this - he seemed to be genuinely concerned with fixing my problem enough so that I would go away, somewhat satisfied.

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Strike Over!

The news out of Metro Philly [Metro broke a story?!] that the strike was over came out about 11p. I hoofed it to The Bellevue Hotel to catch the press conference which was delayed for almost an hour after the announcement went out to the local news. Just before the press conference was about to start, the first elevator in the hotel lobby dinged, but the doors didn't open. All the principals involved - Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, TWU Local 234 President Willie Brown, Rep. Bob Brady, SEPTA GM Joe Casey - were stuck in the elevator. Maintenance had to be called. A crowbar was brought to the lobby and the elevator full of the most powerful politicos in SE PA were set free. Above is a photo of Brown and Rendell exiting the elevator after buzzing the alarm several times.

Governor Rendell took to the mic first, explaining quick and dirty that the strike was over and that an agreement had been reached. "Service will resume tomorrow for the AM rush," he explained. And here's Rendell's opening statements of the press conference telling exactly what was changed:

"Let the buses roll," Mayor Nutter said, while looking the most refreshed out of the group. Nutter applauded everyone's efforts in bringing an end to the strike.

Nutter turned to TWU Local 234 President Willie Brown to shake his hand. Brown basically blamed Nutter for the strike calling him "Little Caesar" on Day 1.

A bleary-eyed Pres. Brown was relieved the strike was over and noted that they were hammering out the final little details.

Always up for a little more face time in front of the camera, Rendell pointed out that "It's a good agreement for the taxpayer," addressing concerns that monies meant for other projects in the state were to be diverted to cover the costs of the new agreement.

Rep. Bob "Strikebuster" Brady took to the mic to commend the work that everyone involved put in, pointing to TWU Local 234 President Willie Brown first. He added that everyone worked all the time and negotiations "never broke off" as reported.

After the press conference was over, Gov Rendell and Mayor Nutter had what appeared to be a fairly serious conversation with tons of firm gestures. Their relationship hasn't been the best of times during the Mayor's short tenure.

NBC10 reports:

SEPTA management made a minor change in the National Healthcare language and also agreed to pay for three years of dental coverage.

The contract will be put to a vote Monday by the membership and is expected to be ratified.

Well, the SEPTA strike of 2009 is all over folks. I'm happy my 11p prediction was wrong. I'm almost always wrong in predicting things.

If any of the newsies want to get at me for photos, get at me.

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