All Doors will Not Open

All Doors Will Not Open

While I admit I have not been commuting, I did have the pleasure of travelling to Pennsylvania over the weekend for an event, and it took an extra 2.5 hours to get home due to yesterday’s latest transit meltdown. 

Amidst the frustration and weariness of the travelers, I noticed additional confusion caused at times by improperly-worded announcements.  Specifically, the use and placement of the words “Not” and “Only” in the announcements actually changes the meaning from what the conductor intended.

For example, some train conductors will announce “All doors will not open at the next stop” when really what they mean is “Not all doors will open.”  To a literal person like me, it sounds like they’re trying to say “All doors will remain closed.”

I understand what they mean – sometimes they cannot open all doors at a stop, either because there is no platform (there is track-level boarding with assistance of crew members at particular doors), because the train is longer than the platform (e.g. NJT passengers at Edison have to “walk back”), or because they need to control boarding for ticket validation as passengers board (Amtrak does this).

However, most passengers would understand what is meant in this case, as it wouldn’t make sense for a train to stop but not open any doors.  But there have been other misworded announcements causing confusion amongst weary passengers.

NJT announced that there was a power failure yesterday near Rahway Station caused by PSE&G power lines falling on the railroad powerlines.  This stopped all trains (Amtrak and NJT) from running between Trenton and Metropark for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and between Metropark and NYC for at least an additional hour, with many other subsequent delays and cancellations.

When the first train was able to proceed North from Trenton Transit Station to Metropark, due to the power issue, the train was only able to go as far as Metropark and had to terminate service there. I’m telling the passengers, some crew members made misworded announcements that caused additional confusion amongst passengers.  

Despite the correction, the original, improperly-worded announcement was repeated more than once, causing intermittent confusion and panic amongst some passengers who needed to exit at Hamilton, Princeton Junction, New Brunswick, Edison, or Metuchen.  

All this in sweltering heat, with only one power outlet to be found in all of Trenton Station, and only one free working Women’s toilet stall in the entire station. And trains holding there with their AC on at full blast and the doors open, only making any heat-related power issues worse. At least set the temperature up 2 degrees and close all but two doors.

The restrooms near the front of the station were closed for cleaning, and one stall being occupied by a person who was camping out with their bicycle in the ADA stall.  One stall was unsanitary, another had no toilet paper, leaving only one operating women’s toilet stall for all passengers to share.

The pizza place at the rear of the station was understaffed, with no visible employees upon inspection, and multiple people waiting around, wondering when there would be service.

The convenience store that shares space with the Dunkin’ Donuts was enjoying the uptick in revenue, as tired and distracted travelers were forced to select from products with no posted prices.

A Black woman asked the crowd about Bus schedules.

A group of young women discussed splitting the cost of an Uber from Metropark to NY, since it was over $200.

An older Black man begged an Amtrak crew member:  “Please – Please let me on the train!  I have an NJT ticket and I need to get back to Queens!  Please help a Black brother out.”  The crew member reiterated that the train would not be moving for a while due to the power issues, and when they do, he would be let on the train if he’s on the list of ticketed passengers.  The man went on to beg multiple fellow passengers, who ignored him, focusing on their own transit woes.

A second Amtrak train showed up at Trenton station shortly after the power issues began, and had to hold there across from the other waiting Amtrak train.  An hour later they announced that the second train would be proceeding to Metropark, but no further.  The crowd continued to wait.  A half hour later, they made all passengers get off the second Amtrak train, and once everyone was off, the train slowly made it’s way back toward Philadelphia.

New Jersey Transit sent an update at 8:15 am Monday morning:  “Update: Westbound trains are no longer bypassing North Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Linden and Rahway.”