MTA has a new way to apologize for your terrible commute

[Union Tpke]

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-mta-courtesy-pass-apologize-20181207-story.html

Is it too late now to say sorry?

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will soon offer you an apology with a courtesy pass the next time your commute is messed up.

“We apologize for your ride today, and pledge to do better,” reads the mea culpa on passes that straphangers can grab at station booths starting Sunday.

“We apologize for your ride today, and pledge to do better,” reads the new message on courtesy passes that riders can grab at station booths Dec. 9. (MTA Handout)

In the subway’s sorry state of affairs, the pass will let riders resume their disrupted commutes at another subway station, or on buses.

If the MTA doubly screws up, they’ll give you two passes, if continuing on your way requires two rides — such as a bus and a train ride, or two bus rides.

Station agents and supervisors can hand out the passes if they believe they’re necessary.

NYC Transit stations chief Rachelle Glazier wrote in a Dec. 5 memo that the passes are “a way for us to acknowledge and apologize for a disruption” and part of “renewed efforts to meet the needs of our customers, and reinforce our commitment to do our best every day to improve their experience using our system.”

The courtesy passes will replace the so-called block ticket that riders can get when a problem forces them out of the subway system.

A new twist with the passes is that station agents and MTA employees can hand them out when elevators break down.

NYC Transit’s chief customer officer, Sarah Meyer, conceived of the kinder, humbler courtesy passes at the direction of the agency chief, Andy Byford.

“The new Courtesy Pass program allows us to improve our customer service by better serving people with disabilities or strollers, and it’s another front in our efforts to eliminate jargon and communicate more clearly,”Meyer said. “We’ve also been raising awareness of this program much more aggressively than the previous version.”

'I'm past the apology. I want to see action," says JR Rodriguez, 37, of Washington Heights (Noah Goldberg for NY Daily News)

But riders said that the MTA can save its “sorries” and the cash it took to print them.

“I’d prefer they take that money and put it toward the maintenance of the system,” commuter JR Rodriguez, 37, from Washington Heights, said. “I’m past the apology. I want to see action.”

Rider Lucas Levy, 29, said an apology means nothing without some action.

“Spending money toward an apology rather than fixing the subway, that’s a waste of money,” Levy, a Manhattanite, said.

[Deucey]

It's the thought that counts.

Although personally, I'd rather a gesture coupled with analyzing who's making the dispatching decisions that lead to some of these blunders and reassigning or terminating their leaders. But I think differently than most.

[N6 Limited]

I would like them to also take into account trains on their way to Penn Station, Atlantic Terminal, Port Authority etc. Some people have scheduled departures to make, try to limit delays on trains ALMOST THERE.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I’m with the riders. Since I started my advocacy group, I’ve been keeping up with other similar groups on social media and some of the stories are just ridiculous. For example, the elevator situation at 190th on the  line where ALL of the elevators are broken down when people are trying to get to and from is insanity. 

[B35 via Church]

This implies that there was an initial apology.... This implies that this apology actually means something.....

It's going to take a LOT more than a quote-unquote courtesy pass to restore the faith that has obviously been lost with this agency from the rider's perspective....

I actually find this "apology" insulting; kinda like a restaurant you ended up getting food poisoning from, offering you a lifetime "pass" to eat free of cost at their establishment after the fact...