ZBB member photos, part 5. (Something for the weekend, sir?)

[jal]

You could just have a deductible card that automatically subtracts the appropriate fare from your balance.

Man... Don't get my started on the Dutch Public Transportation Card...


JAL

[Simmalti]

Man... Don't get my started on the Dutch Public Transportation Card...

vergeet niet in en uit-checken met uw OV-chip kaart

(I apologize for my horrible horrible Dutch, but it's what I remember the voice-over saying in the subway in Amsterdam back in 2009 . It just got stuck in my head)

[finlay]

I'm ambivalent on the whole unified price/stratified price dichotomy... in Edinburgh they have a unified price for the buses, which is good, because you know how much you need... except the other day they put it up from £1.20 to £1.30, meaning not only did I not know what price it was, we now need to piss around trying to find at least three coins instead of two. But Edinburgh's tiny compared to NYC – and this is just the buses, because we don't have a metro*. I'm honestly surprised you have one price, especially for a metro where you can make people check in and out. That's how they do it in London, and the Zones that define the prices are made very obvious, and if you use the oyster card you don't even have to worry about it apart from just having enough money on the card. Edinburgh used to be 80p for a short journey and £1 for a long journey, but nobody knew how far a short journey was meant to be and just ended up paying £1 anyway – eventually they got rid of the 80p fare, and since then the price has climbed slightly to £1.30...

As for the ov-chipkaart, what's the problem there, teething troubles? Too ambitious? I mean I know it definitely works for cities like London or Hong Kong, so is it just the fact that they're trying to roll it out across the whole country?

* They've been building a tram track through the centre of the city but it's blatantly never going to be finished.

[Nortaneous]

DC does the stratified price thing, but we have farecards, so you don't have to worry about anything except having enough money on the farecard. No pissing around with sticking coins in the machine in order to get in.

Of course, it's like $5 to get anywhere, but...

[Risla]

The local transportation service is pretty expensive ($3 on an express bus during rush hour, which is usually what I have to use) and is just going to get worse since apparently transit is now getting defunded. Fortunately for me, I have a bus pass from my university, where I pay $100 up front for a card and get to use it with no additional charges all semester.

[Jipí]

I hope it'll still be possible in Groningen in May to get around by bus without buying one of those OV cards just to use it maybe two or three times on the LCC weekend.

A single card for adults on the bus is € 1.20 here IIRC. But I have a student ticket anyway, so I'm paying 100 € per semester in advance and may use any public transportation in the whole state of Hesse.

[Qwynegold]

Well, that's why you build cities up. I cannot, for the life of me understand why people would build outward and make things less convenient for themselves. But yeah, I agree with the notion of distance based fare, but, think, for a system like the MTA, for now at least, the unified-fare system is the best and most efficient way to go.

They don't build upwards in Stockholm because "it would ruin the city's silhouette". Ugh, lamest excuse ever.

[finlay]

DC does the stratified price thing, but we have farecards, so you don't have to worry about anything except having enough money on the farecard. No pissing around with sticking coins in the machine in order to get in.

Of course, it's like $5 to get anywhere, but...

That's the same as the oyster, octopus, ov-chipkaart, etc. I think the octopus in Hong Kong came first, roughly. The fact that you check out and in makes the stratified fare thing possible. In London they only use zones in the underground, but buses are one price, IIRC, because you only check in and not out. But there, before oyster cards were introduced, and still available if you don't bother buying one, your ticket is only valid for certain zones, or something. You have to put it in the machine to get out. You can't really do that with buses, the way they're generally set up, but you can with metros – you can put barriers in the stations – which is why it mystifies me that NYC haven't done it.

[Nortaneous]

My guess would be that it's because NYC's subway system is confusing enough already. Damned if I know how they expect anyone to be able to navigate that fucking monster.

[communistplot]

The subway system is easy to navigate, that's why they have signs, and maps, all you really need to know is which station you're in and which train you want.
As for the card thing, the metrocard is like that too where it automatically deducts the cost from the card, but that's the problem, refilling it is such a hassle, but, they are introducing ways to use your credit card at the turnstile instead. And yeah, especially in this country, car companies have propagated the myth that you can only build outward because it'd ruin the skyline. Also, here on the Big Island, buses are free, unless you have a large bag/package, or more than one, at which point it becomes a dollar for the large package or a dollar for each extra bag.

[jal]

I hope it'll still be possible in Groningen in May to get around by bus without buying one of those OV card.

They started using the card in the Northern provinces just two or three weeks ago, so no doubt the old paper cards are still accepted.


JAL

[jal]

vergeet niet in en uit-checken met uw OV-chip kaart

Almost correct: "vergeet niet in en uit te checken met uw OV-chipkaart" [emphasis not in actual speech]. Alternatively, there might be an "om" before "in", but that's grammatical optional.


JAL

[Gulliver]

The subway system is easy to navigate, that's why they have signs, and maps, all you really need to know is which station you're in and which train you want.

Lies. All lies. They have one sign per station, hidden behind a trash can. It is awful compared to any other I have ever used, ever. Honestly, I have found it easier to use ones in languages I do not understand than get the subway in NY.

But we digress. Back to photowhoring.

[Simmalti]

vergeet niet in en uit-checken met uw OV-chip kaart

Almost correct: "vergeet niet in en uit te checken met uw OV-chipkaart" [emphasis not in actual speech]. Alternatively, there might be an "om" before "in", but that's grammatical optional.


JAL

Haha thanks. For someone who doesn't speak Dutch at all, I think I did pretty well

But we digress. Back to photowhoring.

Agreed. MOAR photos Gulliver!

[Rui]

Lies. All lies. They have one sign per station, hidden behind a trash can.

That's either massive hyperbole (at the trash can thing and the one sign thing) or massive extrapolation ("they" = "they all" to me when I read that. I kind of wanted to say "of Eddy-magnitude" but I didn't want to offend you ), because I literally have never had that situation happen before. There are several signs all along the wall on both sides in large letters, in addition to (at least in some cars, I'm not sure if it's reached all of them) having a light-up board inside the car that tells you which station is next. So

But in all seriousness, I honestly don't see what's so confusing about the NYC subway...I've used subways in several other big cities (including larger cities like Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai), and I don't see any differences really (it was harder in Tokyo since I don't speak Japanese, but that's why I have friends). I've always heard people not from the city say that it's a complicated system, but they've never said what exactly is complicated about it. I could see an argument maybe for the bigger subway stations, especially GCT, being confusing (having a confusing layout or something), but not the subway itself.

And just so the thread isn't too "derailed" (ha, pun), here's a recent picture:

[Matt]

Photos were taken of me for the first time in over a year on Sunday (not counting ones I've taken with my phone). Here's one of them:

[Jipí]

Is that your girlfriend? Looks pretty.

[Dewrad]

Photos were taken of me for the first time in over a year on Sunday (not counting ones I've taken with my phone). Here's one of them:

That is a fetching apron you're wearing there.

[Matt]

Is that your girlfriend? Looks pretty.

No, she's not. Just a close friend and classmate.

And Dewrad, that's the apron no one else wanted (why, I have no idea).

[finlay]

vergeet niet in en uit-checken met uw OV-chip kaart

Almost correct: "vergeet niet in en uit te checken met uw OV-chipkaart" [emphasis not in actual speech]. Alternatively, there might be an "om" before "in", but that's grammatical optional.


JAL

Haha thanks. For someone who doesn't speak Dutch at all, I think I did pretty well

Dutch is easy, though.

[jal]

Dutch is easy, though.

Indeed. Until, when you think you speak the language, you are pointed to the 20 widely different meanings of "wel". Then you weep. A long time.


JAL

[finlay]

Nah, after all, I speak a language myself where "set" takes up like 20 pages in the OED. We all have our odd words...

Besides, I'm only a beginner in Dutch, or something; I only understand any at all from reading subtitles when I was in Holland, and because it's similar enough to German which I studied a number of years ago. I just find it quite easy to glean meaning from odd texts sometimes. Not always, of course. I read a couple of Tintin books in Dutch – granted, I've read them a million times so I know exactly what they're saying, but still.

[Simmalti]

Indeed. Until, when you think you speak the language, you are pointed to the 20 widely different meanings of "wel". Then you weep. A long time.
JAL

I'd like to learn it one day, and I MIGHT be studying there soon (hopefully) so that's an incentive...

Also Matt, can we see your arm tattoo? What is it of?



Anyway I've never posted any pic here before...

- In summer with dark(er) skin


http://goo.gl/iDiXv - Me, being silly
http://goo.gl/NiRqh - The kid in the picture is my little brother

[jal]

I'd like to learn it one day, and I MIGHT be studying there soon (hopefully) so that's an incentive...

Cool, what and where are you going to study?


JAL

[Astraios]

@Simmalti: Cute!