Bag Ladies

Week ending 2/16/07:

This weeks' ice and snow proved a daunting challenge that forced the faithful to endure a schedule of delayed or cancelled trains. All appointments be damned! We'll get there when we arrive! The weather, coupled with the President's Day extended weekend, brought the trains that were running, to maximum capacity. Which brings me to my theme today: why do riders ignore the baggage restrictions when getting on the train? Answer: because they can. No one seems to enforce any of the so-called regulations. Every other woman rider appeared to be hauling a double-steamer sized wheeled shin crusher (what occurs when one of these monsters smash the blameless, as they try to squeeze down the aisle and your leg happens to get in the way). The "official" baggage limit is 50 lbs. and these crates have to go 90 to a buck twenty! I know because I volunteer to help move these bags out of the way when they wind up creating a traffic jam in the aisles that prohibits others from getting to a seat. They are hazard-inducing on a couple of levels: they hog up way too much space in the car; they create unnecessary congestion; and they are an accident waiting to happen, as everyone pushes to get down an escalator to board the train. With the crowds and these bag ladies dragging coffin-sized "carry-ons", totally unaware that other passengers are an inch away from doing a header over the bag, it's "rider beware"! The fact that no Amtrak official ever intervenes on excess baggage brings up another topic related to security on the trains in general. We'll save that one for another time.