Mark Schweber wrote:
However, this is irrelevant to the issue at hand. The issue is that regular riders, be they rush hour commuters who use the train every day, or off peak and weekend riders who may not use the train every day but use it whenever they do need to travel to a place where the train goes, should be the priority. Those are the people who NJT should be loyal to, even if they are smaller in number. They should not inconvenience them at the drop of the hat to give rich Manhattanites traveling to an elitiest event an easier trip. Maybe NJT should serve them caviar and champagne on the way and tell them to wave to the people sweating on the platform at Newark waiting for their connection (which most likley will be delayed due to being held to give the PGA's express train a nice clear ride).
I imagine that NJT looked at it and decided that regular riders are going to keep riding the train even after a week-long disturbance like this (after all, how many people are going to quit riding the train to/from work forever because of a one-week disruption?) and figured it was worth it to appeal more to the masses headed to the PGA.
Giving people a one-seat ride, as has been mentioned in this forum several times, goes a long way in making a train ride seem like a good idea for people who aren't regular riders. With the PGA, I bet NJT figures the most revenue comes from attracting more people to the PGA, since they'd probably get more riders there than they would lose on the Montclair-Boonton for that week.
I don't think it's fair, but it's all economics, which is the only thing companies see. If being nice to customers helps the bottom line, that's what they'll do. If they can make more money by treating some poorly, and aren't going to lose much if any future revenue, they'll do that.