Madness reigns on Philadelphia mass transit
To the Times:
I was watching the local evening news several days ago when they aired a clip that showed Philadelphia police officers pulling a forcibly-resisting rider from the side door of a SEPTA bus. The reporter stated that the male was removed because he refused to wear a mask on board, a violation of a policy recently implemented by SEPTA in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Good, I thought, the nerve of the guy, endangering all the other law-abiding and healthconscious passengers. I knew how dangerous his behavior was, having watched a report on World News Tonight a couple of weeks ago, in which a bus driver, I think he was from Chicago, shared a cell phone video he had made of himself detailing how an inconsiderate female rider had coughed all over him earlier in the day. The poor guy contracted the virus shortly thereafter and died, another blameless victim. Go SEPTA!
Imagine my surprise the next evening when the local news aired the same video, this time ending the report by stating that SEPTA no longer planned to enforce the policy. What, because of the objection of one fool, they were going to place the lives of thousands of cooperative riders at risk?! During the same broadcast, the reporter related that New Jersey Transit was going to continue to insist that its riders wear masks. Hmm, so if New Jersey Transit can do it, why can’t SEPTA? I was befuddled.
A couple of nights later, while I was watching that same program, the president broke in with his daily coronavirus report. After he had finished speaking, he asked his expert medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauchi, who comes across as an obviously brilliant man and one of the most honest-speaking individuals to ever share the stage with the president, to address a few issues. One of those discussed, and one that he said they’ll be looking in to, was the fact that members of our African-American communities have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. Well, there’s one of the reasons right there, Dr. Fauchi, because our city transit system is more concerned with the rights of one rider as opposed to the heath and safety of thousands! I don’t have the exact figures, but I’m willing to bet that greater than 50% of the SEPTA riders within the city are African-American. Perhaps I should give Dr. Fauchi a call and give him the phone number to Philadelphia City Hall. Maybe somebody there could tell him why Philadelphia is failing to protect its citizens.
As for me, as much as I enjoy the relaxing ride of the Marcus Hook Local when I travel into Philadelphia, I won’t be riding it any more. I’ll drive, or bike, or Guber, or maybe make the short hop over the Commodore Barry bridge and jump on a New Jersey Transit train.