Open Letter to NY MTA

To My Representatives at the New York Metro Transit Authority (MTA) :

I recognize that your service is used by tremendous numbers of people daily. And I recognize that, although my tax dollars subsidise your service, you are above all a business that must generate a profit margin. As a result, I am willing to look the other way at the bumping/jarring/lurching ride, frequent delays, unreliable schedules, too hot (summer)/too cold (winter) stations, and lack of personnel to assist me when I require help. However, since I am paying $4 for a return trip, which is far beyond anything I have ever paid in all my years of using public transportation, could you somehow manage to clean your trains/buses/stations more frequently? I am tired when I get home after a long day of work, and exhausted after arriving at my doorstep subsequent to using your service. So I would appreciate it if I did not have to wash my attire every other day once home due to the lack of cleanliness in your facilities. In fact, while I am asking, could I humbly request that when

1. the metrocard reader deducts too much money from my card, you provide me with a refund at the given station versus requiring me to mail the card in to you? After all, since you are costing me a substantial amount of money already, must you add insult to injury by costing me more time and a stamp as well?
   
2. the train conductors make announcements, they do so clearly and at a level that is neither ear-shattering nor audible only to dogs?

To My Fellow Transit Riders:

Like you, I am tired, hungry, and quite possibly in a bad mood. I understand therefore your general demeanour. However, we are all required to share the same little train car/bus and narrow train platform. To that end, could you please avoid:

• Banging others in the head/arms/chest/legs with your bag
• Playing your music at a volume that prevents others from enjoying their own iTunes collection
• Sloshing others with your coffee/tea/breakfast/lunch/dinner
  
• Spreading your legs so that you occupy part of another person's seat
• Sneezing/coughing directly in someone's face (it is flu season!)
• Stamping on people's feet in an attempt to garner more space
• Letting your child run amok (swinging around/from poles, banging into adults without an apology, climbing over other passengers, etc.)
• Keeping your knapsack/packages on a chair when all other seats are taken
  
• Refusing to acknowledge an elderly, pregnant or physically incapacitated passenger who needs a seat
• Having a deafening conversation on your cell phone (we are only a few inches from you, and value our hearing!)
• Acting like the train/bus is your apartment (stretching out across several chairs, cutting your nails, combing your hair and then cleaning the hair off the brush, etc.)
  

A favourite phrase of mine is "We're all sharing the planet, people". And I am a firm believer in public transportation being a viable alternative to driving everywhere. But please, let us all just remember that in order to help the environment by taking transit, we need to first help each other have a pleasant ride.