MTA Chasing Off Stewardesses

As if higher fares and less service aren't making commuters miserable enough

Not satisfied with jacking prices and cutting lines, the MTA is now trying to make their product even less pleasant by chasing away a band of self-styled "MTA service specialists."

Born last year of the frustration every New Yorker feels about the subway, the MTA service specialists took to the rails to provide the type of service and good cheer reminiscent of old school air travel. And they're doing it free of charge.

This, of course, is exactly the sort of thing the MTA doesn’t care to be associated with, so they’ve asked the four young women to stop using their logo. It must provide a helpful distraction from their "Doomsday budget."

The MTA Service Specialists in Action

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz suggested instead that their energies might be better spent going to Albany to get lawmakers to support the transit system.

Kae Burke, Kristine "Kiki" Rakowsky, Lauren Larken and Anya Sapozhnikova "set out … to improve New York City transit by inspiring and encouraging straphangers to be more courteous and aware of the simple changes they can make themselves so the subway is more enjoyable for everyone aboard," according to their MySpace page.

The MTA strives to turn the New York underground into some Soviet-like festival of paranoia with their ominous slogan, "If you see something, say something." The MTA service specialists, meanwhile, tell passengers, "If you need something, say something."

"With these girls, I'd be on the train all day. You'd have 1000 percent ridership," said happy straphanger Steven Faria, 44, told The New York Post last April.

Instead, a bunch of ineffectual hacks are at the helm, driving the system to ruin.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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