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Deer Urine; WTF????

Posted by
on October 10th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Metro North train bound for Grand Central leaving Harlem-125th Street station
(Grand Central Station bound Metro North train leaving Harlem-125th St.; resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit

I was browsing Craig’s List earlier this morning. I find the site to be quite helpful in either picking up a good bargain or getting a great laugh. However this morning my browsing did not lead to either conclusion. After reading an entry on there, I was left scratching my head & asking WTF????

A Metro North commuter posted a story about a strange encounter they had with a fellow rider this past Monday. The story involves the cops, & deer urine. Yes, you read it correctly deer urine! I decided to save the story to my desktop just in case it got deleted. So here is the entire story word for word:

On Monday morning, October 8th, I got on the train in White Plains headed to NYC. It was the 9:30am express. I called Land Rover because my car was broken as usual. Yup…again. But, that’s a whole other fiasco.

As I was chatting in the vestibule area of the train, so as not to offend the other passengers with my banter. I felt something spray my back and than a wet sensation. I quickly turned, saw a middle aged business man in Kaki’s and a plaid shirt three feet away stick a small white bottle quickly in his pocket.

I said….”what did you spray me with”!!!! He said, “What are you talking about! I’m talking about that bottle in your pocket. I can see it and I saw you spray me. He turned and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about and ran 10 feet back to his seat and acted like he was sleeping.”

I said… Sleeping!!!! I don’t think so….Are you Fcking kidding me. I’m getting the conductor and I’m having him call the police. We’ll discuss the little bottle in your pocket when we get Grand Central. Again he pleads…”I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your crazy”….

I said, “You want crazy you got it and I left to get the conductor”

We’ll I’m three cars down now and speaking with the conductor. Tell him some crazy guy sprayed me with something when I was talking on the phone in the vestibule area. He said… so what do you want me to do, call the cops. I said…ahh yeah call the cops. Conductor said fine… I turned and saw the middle aged business man three cars back run to the bathroom and I turned to head back to my seat… As I got there he came out of the bathroom and sat down. I looked in the bathroom but could not find anything.

Sitting there a strange smell began to omit from my shirt. It was very familiar smell. A rotten smell……At that exact time a guy walked up to me…He said, “Man I saw him spray something on you”… I said, I know…smell my shirt. He said, believe me we all smell it. WTF?????

The SMELL…I remembered it from hunting with my uncle… It was DEER PISS. He sprayed me with deer urine that you buy from the hunting store to mask the human smell from the deer’s. NOW. I am really PISSED.

I confront the guy in front of the entire train…YOU SPRAYED ME WITH DEER PISS YOU SICK FCK and head back towards the conductor. The guy jumps up and opens the door between train cars. He throws something off the train. Everyone sees him do it.

The conductor and I are now walking after the guy. He’s grabbed his briefcase and went five cars up. Obviously, he had hopes that we wouldn’t find him before the train got to 125th street. The cops are waiting for him…he knows it and I know it. We are now one train away and the conductor locks down the doors. The guy sees us and when the train slows to a near stop at 125th street platform…the guys runs back toward us, the conductor a big guy says get behind me…The middle aged well dressed loony climbs between the train cars and jumps…. Everyone is like HOLY SHIT.

The train doors open for the conductor and me. We lean out and see the serial sprayer running down the platform. Two of NYC finest step out from behind the elevator and close line his ass. He’s stuffed and cuffed. The cops separate us and they asked him why’d he jumped from a moving train and why he sprayed me…He tells him that I am after him. I wouldn’t leave him alone. He wanted to get away from me……..I’m crazy. Yes, I filled out a police report and they sent the guy to Bellevue for a psych eval….Lovin NY. Yes… I still smell like piss. I don’t need this shit. Anyways, Thought I give everyone a heads up of the frustrated serial sprayer who gets his rocks off by spraying commuters with deer piss. If your in the media and want to run a story on it….The complaint number is 13853, 10/08/07 @ 9:56am…. 125th street station.

I would like to say that I wish the story was phony. I would like to think that a fellow commuter is not a serial deer urine sprayer. However the flip side of me hopes we do not have a fellow commuter with too much free time on their hands to make up such an encounter. If they do, maybe they should be somewhere else instead of riding a form of public transportation.

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0

Question Of The Week 10-07-07 – 10-14-07

Posted by
on October 10th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

I have just finished an update Eye On Transit. The update includes the results of last week’s “Question Of The Week”. This week’s “Question Of The Week” features 2 questions which both relate to the press release issued by the MTA yesterday regarding public hearings for the proposed fare & toll hikes.

As usual the poll closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST so get your votes in now!

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3

LIRR Billing Snafu Update

Posted by
on October 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am

The MTA has updated its Long Island Railroad (LIRR) service alert regarding the huge billing snafu that affected at least 19,000 LIRR customers. The updated service alert states:

LIRR Customers:

As a result of a computer software problem, some LIRR customers who used credit cards to purchase LIRR tickets between September 25th (when a new software program was installed) and October 8th were double billed. It is now estimated that at least 19,000 customers were affected. The LIRR has issued credits to all 19,000 known customers who were double billed and is manually checking transaction records to identify other customers who may be entitled to credits.

Many customers have already seen the credit on their statement. LIRR customers who were double billed do not have to take any action to receive credit. However, if they have any questions or concerns, they may call the LIRR’s Automated Ticket Sales office toll free at 1-877-LIRR-TSM (1-877-547-7876). This office is staffed weekdays from 7 AM – 3 PM.

The LIRR regrets any inconvenience this software problem may have caused. The vendor who built and services the LIRR’s Ticket Machines – Scheidt & Bachmann – has identified the software problem. A software fix was implemented late last night.

The LIRR assures its customers that measures are being taken by the Railroad to make certain this problem does not occur again.

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0

LIRR Politicians Urge MTA To Reconsider A Fare Hike….

Posted by
on October 10th, 2007 at 11:33 am

LIRR train pulling into Woodside Station 02-20-06
(LIRR train pulling into Woodside Station; resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit

Today’s edition of the New York Newsday has an article about 8 Long Island state senators who contacted the MTA. All 8 of Long Island’s Republican state senators sent a letter to the MTA Chairman asking him to reconsider the proposed fare hike. The senators plan on conducting an online petition via their respective websites to help out their cause.

The MTA’s proposed fare hike calls for an average increase of base fares by 6.5%. Unfortunately this increase does not sit well with local politicians throughout Long Island who feel this increase is not a necessity. The strongly worded letter includes some interesting comments. Here are a few quotes from the letter:

Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City) – “If you’re going to ask people to spend $100 or $200 more a month, you’d really better come with very strong reasons other than, ‘We think we’d like to keep up with the cost of living.”

Source unknown – “When coupled with the MTA’s projected surpluses, this failure reinforces our belief that these planned fare increases are a measure of convenience rather than a financial necessity.”

It seems the letter also references the August 2007 report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli which states the MTA only saved 41% of its intended savings for the year 2006. They expected a bigger increase in savings from cost cutting measures that were implemented.

As one would expect, the MTA has a different perspective on the necessity of the proposed fare hike. MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin issued a statement about the necessity of the agency’s planned fare hike. His statement was:

“Putting off a fare increase this year will only require a much steeper increase and unacceptable service cuts in 2009.”

Personally I can’t wait to read the entire letter that was sent to the MTA chairman. I bet it is quite an interesting read.

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0

Speaking Of Numbers…..

Posted by
on October 10th, 2007 at 11:10 am

Monday’s edition of the New York Post featured an article about the two proposed fare hikes. The article had a catchy title which was “MTA WON’T TREAT ALL RIDERS FARE-LY.” The article broke down how the two tiered fare hike proposal would not be fair to all riders. However the biggest hit of the article might be the online fare hike calculator that was created.

I first read about this article & calculator in an entry written by The Subway Blogger. The calculator is merely nothing more than a table with a built in drop down menu. However Benjamin Kubak’s Second Avenue Sagas does make an excellent point about how this calculator could be used as a nice cheat sheet for those attending the meeting.

Personally I happen to agree with The Subway Blogger in saying that fare hike option #1 is better. I like him are an avid purchaser of unlimited monthly Metrocards. The last thing I would want to do is support a proposal that increases my cost to help the least amount of riders. The fact that proposal #2 helps the least amount of people is reason enough not to support it. Passing on the extra cost to unlimited monthly Metrocard users as myself is the icing on the cake.

Down with fare hike proposal #2!!!!!

One last thing that has me scratching my head. Why did the MTA not schedule a meeting to be located in Suffolk County. Many LIRR riders reside in Suffolk as well & deserve their own hearing just like those in Nassau.

For those wondering, I do plan on attending at least one of the hearings depending on my schedule. The most convenient hearing would be the one at Lehman College. If I can’t make that one, I will attend the hearing either in Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Queens.

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