Ex-Token Booth

All that’s left is the intercom. Another victim of the token-free age, this is at 32nd street and if you are getting off the PATH and want to take the subterranean route across 6th avenue you pass this token booth. A fine token booth, two seater. When it closed I was going to take a picture, then they had this plastic fencing and wood and I should have taken a picture. That was yesterday. But I’m not in blog mode, I’m in going to or coming from day job mode. Often there’s cops with the tables searching bags or those really annoying AMNEWYORK paper hander outers and I just don’t want to take a picture. The mode over powers that sort of mood. Then today, GONE. I thought they were just renovating, I didn’t know they were dismantling and removal. I guess they do that at night. What I don’t understand, if these metro cards they forced upon us where supposed to provide all these cost savings – and part of the accrued savings was due to a reduction in the labor force necessary to make our subways run almost on time – how come fares keep going up? Without a booth, there are less MTA personnel at this juncture, making things less safe and if you are having a problem with the system you’re on your own – just use the intercom, see how that works as a solution! Notice – customer – intercom. We are no longer passengers, we no longer travel together in New York. It’s not a journey we embark upon, it’s a product that we purchase. Fares rise, jobs disappear. No more tokens. No more token booths