commuter rail
Jun. 24th, 2008 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleThe West Medford commuter rail station isn't exactly a station. It's more of a whistle stop. The early morning train only stops there when passengers are waiting on the platform. I used to worry about where I should stand, but a man in scrubs always gets there before me and stands there looking like he knows what's going on. Sometimes another man sprints (I think from Medford Square, though maybe he just lives on the next block) as the train is approaching, and jumps over the fence to join us where we wait. If he went around by the path, he'd miss the train and have to wait an hour.
A person cannot buy a ticket in West Medford. If I wanted to buy a monthly pass, I could order it online, and they'd mail it to me. I buy my tickets on the train. They're the standard price, if one gets them on the train after getting on at a station with no ticket office, or when the office is closed. A round-trip ticket is exactly twice the price of a one-way ticket to the same place (there's no discount for saving the conductor's time on the way back.) I learned something surprising after buying a round-trip ticket.
"Valid for round trip and family fare only on date punched. Otherwise, not good for passage."
So it turned out not to be sensible to buy round-trip tickets. If I get a ride home with a colleague, I can't use the other half of the ticket another day, it's just wasted. It's more efficient to buy tickets one at a time from the conductor, every time I get on the train. I wonder what they're trying to accomplish with this policy? Trick gullible tourists into buying round-trip tickets, throwing away half, and buying fresh tickets the next day? It's hard to believe it could be worth the cost in goodwill.
A person cannot buy a ticket in West Medford. If I wanted to buy a monthly pass, I could order it online, and they'd mail it to me. I buy my tickets on the train. They're the standard price, if one gets them on the train after getting on at a station with no ticket office, or when the office is closed. A round-trip ticket is exactly twice the price of a one-way ticket to the same place (there's no discount for saving the conductor's time on the way back.) I learned something surprising after buying a round-trip ticket.
"
So it turned out not to be sensible to buy round-trip tickets. If I get a ride home with a colleague, I can't use the other half of the ticket another day, it's just wasted. It's more efficient to buy tickets one at a time from the conductor, every time I get on the train. I wonder what they're trying to accomplish with this policy? Trick gullible tourists into buying round-trip tickets, throwing away half, and buying fresh tickets the next day? It's hard to believe it could be worth the cost in goodwill.
