toolbert
07-22-2006, 01:56 AM
Ok, for those of you who don't know what it is, Spare the Air is a day were the air is too bad for people to be driving their cars around in. It happens quite a bit here in the Bay Area, so they offer some insentives for people to not drive their cars to work...namely free public transportation. Now, this is cool and all but it really messes with the people who have to work on those days. Not only this, but people who would never, ever, ever ride the ferry or BART (http://www.bart.gov) or buses are crowding them like they're the next best thing since Dr. Pepper (and no one can be the next best Dr. Pepper...though Dr. Thunder did try). I like the idea, I really do but it comes down to a couple of issues I have with free transportation.
1. Its too damn crowded:
Seeing as I have to take BART everyday to work, it stinks when I have to spend more than 15 mins trying to find a parking spot just to go to work. Yes, its fun to go to the city and play around in downtown...but I just need to go to work. Also, walking the streets of downtown Frisco are so crowded that I had a hard time getting lunch today within my alotted time. Every have to settle for fast food when you didn't want to? That's spare the air day to me! Plus, when I go home from work I get to stand on the BART all the way home after standing on my feet for a little over 8 hours (minus my lunch break) all because it's free to ride. My feet will be mad at me in the morning.
2. It attracts the wrong crowd:
Free public transportation also brings about the people who are too cheap to ride it anyway. I've seen every type of redneck, thug, wannabe thug, punk, emo, creepy homeless people, etc you can think of. And now that it's hot outside where do they come to? You guessed it! My lovely mall. So now, instead of just having a light group of trouble makers...its filled with them. I don't want to treat anyone like a criminal, but when you hang around my stuff for longer than 10 minutes and play with the security cables...I'm gonna ask your ass to leave my store. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people who are really nice that act thuggish, rednecky or punk, but I can't stand it when a huge group of said people do nothing but loiter in my store especially when I can't keep track of them all. I've already had two more threats against me because I've asked nicely for people to leave. Screw asking nicely, I'm just gonna get them thrown out from now on.
3. It wastes money that could be better spent:
A free ride is great, but I would rather see this money put into something else. Even if they were to give free ride vouchers to those who pay on a regular basis, it would make me happier than spending their whole budget on three days of free service. It kind of cheats the people who pay hundreds of dollars a month by giving everyone who doesn't pay money into the system a free ride. In fact, it ends up raising the cost of BART and other transportations because they lack the funds to support it.
I just am crabby with all the people I have to watch today. I think my second reason is the real reason I'm ranting about this. Thanks for reading my rant =p
1. Its too damn crowded:
Seeing as I have to take BART everyday to work, it stinks when I have to spend more than 15 mins trying to find a parking spot just to go to work. Yes, its fun to go to the city and play around in downtown...but I just need to go to work. Also, walking the streets of downtown Frisco are so crowded that I had a hard time getting lunch today within my alotted time. Every have to settle for fast food when you didn't want to? That's spare the air day to me! Plus, when I go home from work I get to stand on the BART all the way home after standing on my feet for a little over 8 hours (minus my lunch break) all because it's free to ride. My feet will be mad at me in the morning.
2. It attracts the wrong crowd:
Free public transportation also brings about the people who are too cheap to ride it anyway. I've seen every type of redneck, thug, wannabe thug, punk, emo, creepy homeless people, etc you can think of. And now that it's hot outside where do they come to? You guessed it! My lovely mall. So now, instead of just having a light group of trouble makers...its filled with them. I don't want to treat anyone like a criminal, but when you hang around my stuff for longer than 10 minutes and play with the security cables...I'm gonna ask your ass to leave my store. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people who are really nice that act thuggish, rednecky or punk, but I can't stand it when a huge group of said people do nothing but loiter in my store especially when I can't keep track of them all. I've already had two more threats against me because I've asked nicely for people to leave. Screw asking nicely, I'm just gonna get them thrown out from now on.
3. It wastes money that could be better spent:
A free ride is great, but I would rather see this money put into something else. Even if they were to give free ride vouchers to those who pay on a regular basis, it would make me happier than spending their whole budget on three days of free service. It kind of cheats the people who pay hundreds of dollars a month by giving everyone who doesn't pay money into the system a free ride. In fact, it ends up raising the cost of BART and other transportations because they lack the funds to support it.
I just am crabby with all the people I have to watch today. I think my second reason is the real reason I'm ranting about this. Thanks for reading my rant =p