Crossing The T
The Teller likes coming to work. The people here are occasionally friendly, the coffee is always free, and for some reason we get paid to write our fanciful views of the latest goings on.
Part of the pleasure is actually getting here, thanks to the help of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s bus system. Zipping down the Mass Pike on an express bus, reading the paper or some piece of pulp fiction, is an especially painless mode of transportation. The two alternatives, squeezing into the glacially slow Green Line packed with students, or braving the roadways bumper-to-bumper with the Hub’s other delirious morning denizens, are far less attractive.
So when The Teller learned the MBTA was considering service cuts that would eliminate our express bus route, a cocktail made with two parts rage and one part fear started coursing through our system. This cannot be allowed to happen!
Amazingly, the MBTA isn’t exercising its prerogative to juggle its service without input from the millions of commuters it serves. The MBTA has created a well-written info sheet, explaining just why the transit authority is in so much financial trouble, what the options are for making the T viable, which service cuts are being considered, and what the possible fare increases are. By increasing fares, the MBTA predicts it can raise $69 million and stave off service cuts for at least two more years. If instead it installs a wide range of service cuts, it can save $55 million. The whole breakdown is available on www.mbta.com.
The MBTA has also set up 12 public information sessions around its service area, and a public hearing on Thursday, Aug. 27 in Boston. It’s surprisingly sensible of the MBTA to seek out our opinions. If only the rest of government worked like that.
However, The Teller won’t be able to make the August public hearing; Thursday nights we play in a secret underground lawn darts league (the first rule of lawn darts league is: there is no such thing as lawn darts league!). Instead, we’ll just offer our feelings here: DON’T CUT OUR BELOVED EXPRESS BUS!
Times Square, It Is A-Changin’
If Wall Street in New York City is the vital nerve center of American commerce, then Times Square is the great gall bladder of American kitch. Where else can you be blinded by glittering advertisements, buy overpriced movie tickets or half-price theater tickets, grab a hamburger made by ESPN, get mugged and stare at the smoking crater that used to be The New York Times (ed. note: The New York Times still exists, at least on paper)?
Through Aug. 2, there is new attraction to bring people into the dark (actually, neon) heart of Manhattan: Coldwell Banker’s interactive billboard.
The billboard has been branded as "interactive" because people in Times Square can take a break from their great pilgrimage to text a ZIP code to "30241," and the billboard will display the highest-, median, and lowest-priced properties in the area "in a matter of moments," according to a release by Coldwell Banker.
Fortunately, lest the curious text sender not have a pen and paper at hand, Coldwell Banker will also send a reply text with a link for more information.
Also, because staring at real estate data constantly could get boring (but by all means, keep reading Banker & Tradesman), Coldwell Banker has incorporated snippets from their most recent advertising campaign called "Portraits."
According to Coldwell Banker, the campaign "features the company’s dynamic (albeit deceased) founders, Colbert Coldwell and Benjamin Arthur Banker, who started the company back in 1906. The founder portraits will offer humorous quips on the Big Apple and modern-day technology."
That sounds … well, it sounds like a digital zombie version of The Teller!
