Courage
By adamg - 11/20/09 - 9:41 am
Paul Levy notes New York's equivalent of the MTA is emblazoning the word "optimism" on its equivalent of CharlieTickets, wonders what the T could put on our passes:
Still waiting
Comments
How about a list of T
How about a list of T excuses:
Wet leaves
Signal Problems
Heat causing track problems
Rain/snow
Disabled train
Trash fire
One excuse per card, try and collect them all!
How about
"PAY YOUR FARE". Because it makes as much sense to put it on the paid-for ticket as it does to blast it to the people who are already in the station and past the gates.
Hmm.
Signal problems is the best one so far.
Roulette
After all, every day of taking the T is becoming more of a gamble that you won't be seriously delayed at some point.
I know!
"Put the camera away"
Few ideas: CHARLIE IS
Few ideas:
CHARLIE IS WATCHING YOU!
Hey, at least we aren't SEPTA!
MBTA, We build 'character'!
Random fortune cookie sayings on each ticket?
The likelihood of your trip being delayed today is xxx%
Al Gore would like to thank you for using public transit, but he is too busy flying his private jet.
How 'bout them sports teams?
Advertising space to pay down the billions of dollars of debt?
Today's weather forecast?
ooh
How 'bout them sports teams?
I bet the T could make a mint if they sold Charlie Cards to the Red Sox Nation with "YANKEES SUCK" written on 'em for an extra fee.
C'mon, MBTA, you're sitting on a gold mine here!
Oneupmanship
"Excelsior!"
We've always been a bit more geeky than NYC anyways...
We could also generate some revenue by getting these guys to pay for it as ad space.
Dogtown has all the answers
Anybody ever gone for a hike up in Rockport and read all the things carved into the Babson Boulders?
It's worse than a Motivational calendar ... but with the sort of desolate ironic twist of a demotivator.
the irony of Charlie
I think the Charlie reference is lost on most people anyway. Charlie is from a protest song about MTA (now MBTA) fair hikes.
from the original Charlie on the MTA:
Charlie handed in his dime
At the Kendall Square Station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him,
"One more nickel."
Charlie could not get off that train.
The Dropkick Murphys cover is Skinhead on the MBTA but doesn't have the same tone or message. Check out the Kingston Trios version if you a more authentic version.
Charlie is a subtle reminder of how the MBTA really thinks of their riders that goes over most peoples heads.
Charlie was the result of a focus group
My understanding is that the T tried out various names such as T-Go on focus groups, only to constantly hear back that they should use 'Charlie" instead. So they did.
Was the result of "You dolts, there's only one option"
I'm trying to remember the other names they came up with for the card, and they were all hideous variants on T-Go, T-Zap, T-Blast or somesuch.
I consider this then to be one of the rare cases where focus group input actually improved something.
Ron, Charlie is far better
Ron, Charlie is far better than the "Fare Cod" (yes they thought it was funny) name they were going to use.
I suppose that's one
I suppose that's one interpretation. Alternatively, the 'T is saying that they now get Charlie and are working to serve his needs. Whether they succeed is quite debatable, but that's how I see it. Plus, let's not forget, Charlie's problem was that he didn't carry enough pocket change. If only a smart card had been available in his day!
his problem was his wife
his problem was his wife hated him. She fed him to keep him alive, but wouldn't give him a damn nickel so he could escape. That's just torture.
Back in those days ...
ATMs dispensed nickels. And dimes and quarters. Direct deposit meant that your company went to the bank with a bag of cash for you.
Yeah. Something like that.
And don't forget that, in those days, the ATMs were spaced
very infrequently, so you had to walk at least fifteen miles uphill in the snow both going to the ATM and lugging the heavy bag of coins from the ATM back to your house.
How about the Bill of
How about the Bill of Rights? Great to show T cops during a "random" bag search.
Or, a joker card.
You mean New York's
You mean New York's equivalent of the MBTA?
My predictable entry
"There's another train directly behind us."