idiots

from In a Crisis, Subway Riders Get Little Guidance -NYT

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the PATH system, has since January been sending e-mail alerts to nearly 9,000 riders. They are notified of any delays of more than 15 minutes, and they can customize the alerts so they receive information only about the lines they use.

It will be a while before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority can do that for subway riders. “Usually when stuff happens, it happens quickly and we’d have to send out 100,000 e-mails very quickly,” said Wael Hibri, the authority’s chief information officer. “We’re still thinking it through.”

Here, then, is how word of major disruptions goes out for many riders: Employees stationed near train dispatchers make a telephone recording of the disruptions. The recording goes out to station agents, who are supposed to write down the information on white dry-erase boards in each booth using ink markers.

“We keep an ample supply on hand,” Termain Garden, a transit official, said of the markers.



I can't even be bothered to make a joke here, it's just too easy.