Dear Metro North,
You may think this petty to bother writing a letter to you about a matter of two dollars, but I believe I should at least be heard out, because you have no idea how upset I actually was by what unfolded. Trust me when I say I would not be writing a letter unless I was greatly disconcerted. Everything that follows in this letter is true.
On the morning of November 15, 2011, I took the 11:41 Metro North train from Fordham to Grand Central Station. It was on-time and I was eager to spend a full day in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. It so happened that it was an overcast day and there were drizzles here and there, to a point in which I felt like it may very well rain, so I spent a good deal inside at a Barnes and Noble and at Grand Central Station. At this point it was around 5 pm. I had already had a good time but I was also somewhat ready to go back to my residence at Fordham University. However, I had an off-peak ticket from a few weeks ago that expired on November 17, and being a college student far away from home, I did not want to spend any more money than was necessary.
I looked up on the Internet using my mobile phone to see when peak and off-peak hours were, for it has always been an issue that has confused me. I saw that peak hours ended at 8 pm. I had three hours left and that was just fine to me. I was working on a short story that I started writing while in Williamsburg that day and I am also chipping away at reading one of James Joyce’s masterpieces, Finnegans Wake, which is a novel that requires hours of peace and quiet without interruption. I decided to stay until I indeed finished writing my story and I also read a few chapters of Joyce. At this point it was around 6:30 and I was getting antsy, so I decided to take a walk.
Using my mobile phone, I sent textual messages to 266-266 to see when trains would be leaving for Fordham. Eventually I found out that there would be an 8:00 train from Grand Central to Fordham, scheduled to be both on-time and arriving at Fordham at 8:17. Seeing as how it has been a handful of emotionally traumatic hours since then, I cannot accurately report my thoughts to you verbatim, but I can say they were something like this: “That’s perfect, right when off-peak hours starts. That means I’ll be back to Fordham with enough time to talk to my resident assistant about a hall meeting that I missed as well as study.”
I boarded the train on Track 30 at Grand Central a little before 8 o’clock. I sat down and after a good period of time, I realized I could not find my ticket. I looked through both my pockets, every niche and curve of my backpack, and eventually frantically throughout the corridors of the station. I had no luck, or at least none that happened to be good. I went to a ticket machine and frustratingly bought a $5.75 off-peak ticket at 7:55.
I re-boarded the train at what must have been about 7:57. I cannot remember exactly because I did not check the time. In all other instances in this letter when I list a specific time, it was when I checked the time on my phone. Shortly after I sat down in my seat on the train across from a fellow Fordham University student whom I did not recognize and next to a businessman who smelled vaguely of bleu cheese, the train began moving and a voice spoke saying that it was a peak train and that anyone with an off-peak ticket would be charged an additional two dollars. I thought this was a mistake. I checked my phone right when the train began moving and it was 8:01. 8:01 is indeed after 8, is it not? Then why, if peak hours end at 8, is a train that leaves at 8:01 considered peak? That question has now been baffling me for hours.
When the man came around to me and took my ticket, eventually taking the extra $2 from me as well, I could not help but recall other times in which I had witnessed similar things. I believe the first time I took the Metro North back to Fordham I had an off-peak ticket and the lady made me pay two extra dollars. I have no complaints about that instance and the reason why I had an off-peak ticket was because I was unaware of the peak/off-peak schedule at the time. Since then, I have been more adept. Of course this all changed when my family visited me one weekend in October. We took the Metro North on a Saturday, foolishly buying two-way off-peak tickets. The lady who took our tickets informed us that we could have gotten city tickets for cheaper, but she did not offer to pay us back. That did not really strike me as odd, because it was indeed our mistake. The next week, however, I was on a train in which the woman sitting next to me had a peak ticket during an off-peak hour. The man who took her ticket gave her some money back, saying that he did not wish to rip her off at all. I thought that was very nice of him at the time and then I stopped and thought that although it was nice, it was the perfectly normal thing to do. If one goes to a store to buy something that costs $2.75 and then says, “I only have a ten” while reaching into his or her wallet and grabbing a $5 bill that they did not realize was there, the cashier is not going to give $2.25 back as change. That would be immoral and no less than stealing.
I have taken the liberty of including the receipt that I got for having my $2 taken from me. Please note that the time says 8:08:58 pm, and I have highlighted this as well.
I am very disappointed in the Metro North at this point and I must say that I doubt whether or not I will ever use it again. It may just be $2 but I view it as a microcosm for a company that appears to not care for its customers. I may only be one person but I do happen to hold a good deal of weight in the Fordham community. I author a blog that currently has 219 followers, many of which in the Fordham community, and I write for the Ram newspaper.
Sincerely,
Patrick Mullen
