Boston MBTA, Please Call Jean-Paul Sartre

[mabfan]

At the Copley T stop, where I emerge to go to work every morning, they've had a large area blocked off for about two weeks now to install the new CharlieTicket turnstiles. The blocked-off area is where the stairs led up from one of those barred revolving doors. The door allowed people to exit but not enter, so the wall above the stairway always had a sign warning people to use the other stairs to enter the T.

Today, I discovered that they had reopened those stairs (even though the new turnstiles still aren't done) and had added some interesting new signage:







Don't you think they might have considered removing the top sign before installing the one on the bottom?

Copyright © Michael A. Burstein

Comments

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Ceci n'est pas un entrance.

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Why does calling it "CharlieTIcket" seem rather strange to me, I mean naming the ticket system after a guy who was never able to get off the train?

[ckd]

The MBTA works in mysterious ways. And by mysterious, I mean stupid.

"Let's have two different things, and call one the CharlieTicket and the other the CharlieCard! That won't be confusing, especially since we'll print most of the CharlieTickets on card stock."

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

*snerk* You may have just made my morning.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Glad to have done so, madame.

[babydraco.livejournal.com]

That city is in the middle of some kind of bizarre traffic vortex, isn't it. Once you get in, you can't get out and now they've trapped people in the subway.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Ever read "A Subway Called Moebius" by AJ Deutch? There's a reason he set it on the Boston T...

[babydraco.livejournal.com]

No, but now I want to. lol

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

Very zen. :D

Now, were they always called Charlieticket turnstiles? Does it have anything to do with the MTA song? It would explain why people are getting stuck...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

When the T decided to go to a farecard form of payment, they did indeed choose to call it the CharlieCard after the Kingston Trio song Charlie and the MTA. Their reasoning was that Charlie is the most identifiable typical rider of the Boston subway system whom people know.

The fact that he was stuck on the system because he couldn't afford exit fare seems to have escaped them...

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

Sigh. As long as they don't change their rates while you're on the train, I guess you're good... ;)

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

You should send this picture into Jay Leno. He's always looking for things like this.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Eh. Sending photos to Leno is really not my thing. Unless they're photos of Pluto. :-)

[donovanstitch.livejournal.com]

You misunderstood, obviously. It's the *wall* that isn't an entrance.

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

HEE!

Post this in b0st0n

[nwl.livejournal.com]

The Washington Post travel section gives a prize for funny signs. rwl saw a funny one locally, but since it's on a busy highway, taking picture might be a problem. It read, "Germantown Homes Ready for Immediate Delivery" (Germantown being the town he was in). That does not make since, unless they are the modular type, of course.

Thanks!

[friendoffriday.livejournal.com]

Good laugh, if it weren't so sad. Thanks!

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

Re: Thanks!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[grahams.livejournal.com]

Well, the wall itself is not an entrance, but if you follow the arrow....


awww, who am I kidding, they are a bunch of idiots...

[surakofb5.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

Or, as my MIT alumna colleague said:

Let me guess: these are the same people who were involved with the "Big Dig?!"

[bostonista.livejournal.com]

Thankfully no.

[madfilkentist]

I'm reminded of the "This is not a door" signs at Boskone.

But really, if I came across that, I'd take it as saying, "This is not an entrance; the entrance is over there," and wonder why so many people tried to walk through the wall that the sign was necessary. A Harry Potter thing, maybe?

[mneme]

*laugh*.

Clearly, along the lines of the Tea/No Tea from Hitchikers (the game), what you have there is an "an".

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Were there any people milling around in confusion?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Not really; most people seemed to realize that they should take those stairs down. But it did usually take them a moment to assimilate the fact, since those stairs have been closed off for some time now.

And they're closed off again today.

[plorkwort.livejournal.com]

(stopped by from Universal Hub)

Does the Brookline High auditorium door to the right of the stage still have the sign that's been rearranged to say

NOT
A
NEXIT

?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

You know, I go there a few times a year for Town Meeting, and I've never noticed.