Sen. Martins blasts MTA on refunds

As Condr said, they will get you if you steal.
The old timers always told us, they will work with you on just about anything around here, but dont ever steal, thats one thing they will not tolerate under any circumstances.
There were a few examples over the years.
Once they observed or suspected a person of stealing, they were watched and investigated for awhile to let them really hang themselves. Two of the ways a few people were stealing from the company was what they called, "palming tickets" thats is, collecting them, and not punching them, then giving them to friends or selling them.
The friends would then either use them, or turn them in for refunds. This was of course before the refund fee.
Another way of stealing was called splitting the stock sold on trains. When a Conductor sells a ticket on a train, the passenger gets one half as a reciept, the other half gets turned in as a record with their cash report.
The thief would punch the reciept for the passenger as the proper fare, then later punch the half that was turned in at a lower fare.
One particular Conductor I worked with was caught in the late 70's, I found out later by the time he was arrested there were dozens of spotters on our train watching the entire crew, of which I was the head end brakeman ( we had two brakeman at the time).
When they came to arrest him. the superintendant transportation showed up with the cops. ( it was L.D. at the time, and yes the block limit at riverhead was named in his honor)
They did it very simply, they took him away, and the superintendant came up to me and said, Im moving you up as Conductor for the day.
A few months later I was accused by a passenger of not giving the proper change.
My responce was I guess its possible I could have made a mistake, so I gave the passenger the benefit of the doubt, and gave him the difference. It was only a matter of 2 dollars so I figured why fight over it.
The passenger then wrote a letter accusing me of being a thief.
I was called in by the superintendant expecting the worst, and he said I don't want you to worry about it, everyone screws up from time to time, and we know you are not a thief.
So as tool said.. they know..

The carrier (there is no company) always considered short riders a nuisance and applied minimal staffing on the early morning eastbound and westbound locals Babylon, Huntington, and KO. When Republic station was in service 70-100 riders would detrain there off the Greenport (when it ran Greenport to LIC). Eleven cars and three crew members never got all of them, despite the crew religiously writing "unable to collect" on their cash reports.

The fellow from TWA who was running the carrier at the time heeded advice from the Manager of Transportation Manpower (who disdained train and engine service personal) not to add additional staffing to collect fares. After all, this would add more jobs, and since we are talking about 75 cent fares in this era, just ignore the problem, and if the crew isn't doing their jobs, discipline them (We just cut the second brakeman!Look at the money we saved! We can save more money and make ourselves look good too!). It was the best of both worlds for management. At the very least, under LD, if you told the truth, you most likely were , "in the clear".

Guap-er- Wilsonpooch, correctly points out the shift in policy to Train Service personnel were guilty until proven innocent by the "Conrail Gang" of Larry Baggerly and later Bruce McIver, and then Hoppe. This was especially true under Hoppe, with "visioning groups" that the crews are sloth and prone to indifference. "DM" and his straw hat went on a rampage with letters to ATM's from the"VC",demanding a Trainman's head on a platter for some perceived injustice. While this policy is more subtle today, it remains in force.

R36, the other village was New Hyde Park. Sorry, thought all the regulars knew that. Imagine if those villages would have been elevated back in the 1960's when the State wanted to do it, how many grade crossing accidents and fatalities would not have happened.

Yes I am Guap... I mean wilson pooch. And yes LD was fair as long as you did not lie to him.
I found JCV to be approachable also, perhaps since he used to ride to work on my train in the morning every day. (LD was after JCV as superintendant-transportation)
That was way back in 1974 or 75..
He and a bunch of other higher ups used to get on at hicksville, and ride towards the rear, so they would be near the rear stairs at Jamaica.
You can bet I was always professional working that train with them watching me every morning.
On one particular morning, the collector was to get the doors at new hyde park, at that time it only held 4 or 6 cars i forget which. ( Im guessing 4) The whole train opened and JCV just gave me a cold stare.. I looked back with a look like hey Im standing here it was not me.
The trial notice for the collector was hand delivered the next morning.
I know its a carrier, but the old timers called it The Company when I hired on, and it kind of stuck with me, and some others.
I do know in the union contracts its referred to as the carrier.
I know NY state has been running the place since 1968, but right up to my last check in 2006, they still said the Long Island Railroad Company on them.

wilsonpooch wrote:NY state has been running the place since 1968, but right up to my last check in 2006, they still said the Long Island Railroad Company on them.

Actually since 1965, when the MTA was first established. It was in '68 the MTA was expanded to include NYC Transit and TBTA.

The Long Island Rail Road Company is the Carrier. And it certainly is a company. Have a copy of its State charter right here, from April 24, 1834.

The one refund I got in recent years was because my train never showed up. After waiting an hour and a half past the scheduled time, I gave up and called someone to come pick me up.

It's ridiculous that refunds are no longer available in this situation. Other transit systems, such as SEPTA and the MBTA, provide refunds when there's a service disruption even if you *did* use your ticket.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

wilsonpooch wrote:NY state has been running the place since 1968, but right up to my last check in 2006, they still said the Long Island Railroad Company on them.

Actually since 1965, when the MTA was first established. It was in '68 the MTA was expanded to include NYC Transit and TBTA.

R36: The 1960s name was the METROPOLITAN COMMUTER TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY...shortened in 1968 by dropping the word COMMUTER...I remembered this and added it here to clarify the subject...MACTRAXX