THE NEW ZOO REVIEW

[  I KNOW THIS IS GETTING TO BE A HABIT BUT THIS IS THURSDAY'S ENTRY POSTED ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT.  I SHOULD BE ON A MORE "NORMAL" POSTING SCHEDULE ON SATURDAY! ]

“...old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I know the above verse (in context) speaks of salvation and THAT’S a good thing!  Right now, I’m using that verse out of context and speaking of new things in general.  Some new things are certainly good, but I am of the, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” school of thought.

On Tuesday of this week, I went (with my daughters and my daughter Amy’s boyfriend) to Boston by way of the “T”.  I prefer the commuter rail, but in order to save money we took the Green Line out of Woodland Station off Route 16 in Newton, adjacent to Newton/Wellesley Hospital.  I guess the last time I took the Green Line out of Woodland Station was about 17 months ago.  Here is what taking the Green Line out of Woodland Station USED to be like:

You pulled into a parking lot.  Before you could go very far at all, there was an Indian woman (from India) at a booth saying, “Thlee dollars Pleese” (three dollars, please) and handing you a validation card that you left on your dash.  You found a parking place in the lot, and walked to the area where the “trains” (well, trolley cars) stopped.  You walked onto the trolley car and deposited a bunch of quarters into the change receptacle- like $2.50 worth.  That was that.  To come back, you bought a $1.25 token in Boston, got on a “D- Riverside” trolley car, and got off at Woodland Station.

That was all too simple.  Now, THIS is what it was like on Tuesday:

I pulled into Woodland Station and immediately Amy exclaimed, “WHEN did they do THIS?!”  There was virtually NO parking lot.  Several buildings worth of brand new condos were under construction (almost complete).  At the far end of what used to be the lot was a parking garage.  I drove into the parking garage and took a ticket, as you always do at parking garages.  We walked over to the area where you get the trolleys.  There were machines to purchase “Charlie Tickets”.  We were very confused and discombobulated as were several other people.   We finally managed to buy “Charlie Tickets” each “charged” with $5 apiece.  We later found out you didn’t have to charge that much worth on a “Charlie Ticket”.  We got on the trolley and slid our “Charlie Tickets” where the driver told us to.  After several hours of visiting in Boston, we used our “Charlie Tickets” at Copley Station, and got on a “D” Green Line trolley.  We got off at Woodland Station, and walked to the parking garage.  I drove to the exit and tried to pay.  I looked for a guy to hand my ticket and money to.  NO SUCH THING.   There was a place where you were supposed to slide your parking garage ticket.  I slid it, and the screen said,  “Ticket unpaid- see cashier”.  My immediate thought was, “WHAT cashier?!”

There I was with my car blocking an exit; I climbed out and found the cashier’s office.   I entered into an annoying and tedious conversation with the man and woman “running” the office.  It seems you’re supposed to pay your ticket at this cashier’s office before you ever get into your car to drive away.  Well, it would have been nice of someone to TELL me that!  It would have been nice to have proper SIGNS or something!  I did tell them that in my opinion this was the stupidest parking garage payment procedure I’ve ever heard of.  The whole thing was embarrassing and humiliating.

My wife and I are going to a conference in Boston in early February and she’ll want to take the trolley from Woodland Station.  That is the only reason I did not vow to NEVER use that parking garage or trolley again- but honestly, I’m REAL close to vowing that one.  I WILL use it in February with Mary Ann, but after that, “the jury is out” on whether I ever will again.
I believe that Dan Graubaskas who did a super job improving the Registry of Motor Vehicles a few years ago now runs the “T”.  I think Dan ought to work on making the “T” more user friendly.  I will vow this.  Next time Howie Carr on WRKO has an hour on “Why did you stop using the ‘T’?” I’m positively calling in with this story!

Incidentally, “The New Zoo Review” or some title like that was a children’s show in the 1970s.  I just liked the title for this piece.