“Hell Is Other Commuters”
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park writes:
I missed this when it ran last Fall:
Best line is the last line. That’s the Met Council’s Central Corridor policy to a tee.
The last line:
“People need to realize that public transportation isn’t just for some poor sucker to take to work,” Collier said. “He should also be taking it to the shopping mall, the supermarket, and the laundromat.”
There will be more room for Ted Mondale’s BMW when your 1998 Taurus is off the road.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:53 am
If reporters really wanted to “Speak Truth to Power”, they would trail the pro-public-transportation legislators, commissioners, councilmembers, etc. and go all Mike Wallace on them as they pulled up to the Captiol, City Hall, Met Council, etc., and ask why they aren’t using public transportation. If the anti-public-transportation types wanted to prove the absurbity by being absurd, they would ban all VIP parking near public buildings and when the compliants come, tell the complainers to “take the bus”.
January 30th, 2012 at 9:00 am
Yes, I’m going to take four bags of groceries, a gallon of milk, a big bag of dog food, a bag of cat litter and a 24 pack of diet coke on the bus. And then carry it 5 blocks to my house. With my magic anti-gravity field.
January 30th, 2012 at 9:35 am
You (and by extension, Joe Doakes) DID see that the link is from The Onion, didn’t you?
January 30th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Bilsie – you are right – it is a made up story in a satirical publication, but like all good humor, there is an element of truth underlying the joke.
There is pressure applied from our ‘betters’ to use public transport when these same people – who unlike me at least – go to and from work at the same place (which is close to a stop) at the same time each day, don’t. I’m not saying using public transport is a bad thing (when my spouse switched to the bus years ago it saved us a fortune in parking, gas and wear & tear on her car) it’s just that when it’s so impractical that an overwhelming majority of people don’t/can’t use it, including the public officials hectoring the peasants to use it, the system needs some re-thinking.
January 30th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Bill C,
Joe and I sure did. (Joe pointed it out to me as an Onion piece).
The last line is still perfect!
January 30th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
True on both counts. I guess you were too clever by half for me this morning. Sometimes I don’t catch the subtle humor thing.