Joe Wilson's Objection

Well, SOMEONE had to.

Astro Boy in 5 Seconds

Yeah, I realize this is before the movie comes out, but come on! The trailer was just asking for it!

Jaimetud's Nitpicks: Glenn Beck and Cars Dot Gov

In this episode, Jaimetud responds to a rather cocky commenter. Also, was Glenn Beck too hard on the "Cash for Clunkers" program or was he right on the money? And who's been hiding out in Jaimetud's closet?

Not So Star Card

It’s back to school again time and time to get busy learnin’. And it’s time for a little rant.

Today, I took the bus down to the transit center to purchase a new bus pass. The Golden Gate Transit bus system has become very convenient in recent months, replacing the bus ticket system of carrying a ticket book around to pay for your discount bus rides with a single card system. This single card is just as expensive as the old ticket books, only it’s a single card with a magnetic strip on it. You simply stick it in the machine and withdraw it and it reads the amount of money on the card, deducts it and simply prints the new amount on the card, letting you know how much more you have.

The problem I have with this system is that if you ever put that card in your wallet or pocket for long amounts of time, as most people probably do, the magnetic strip gets worn down because it’s attached to a floppy piece of paper card that’s thinner than a business card and not a nice, hard laminated card like a Visa. So if you’re in a situation like the one I’m in where you have to call 511 and order a replacement, you’re screwed if your waiting for a bus with nothing more than a worn out bus card.

That’s my FIRST problem. Don’t worry, we’re just getting started. My second problem is going from one county to another. Due to the popularity of rising prices left and right, the bus to San Francisco now costs $4.80. It used to be $4.00, but I understand at least why with buying a ticket book, you had to buy a separate, more expensive ticket book to go from county to county than if you were going from town to town. BUT now that we have a single card with a magnetic strip on it, then how come we can’t have money deducted from that card wherever we’re going? Why can’t we just have one card to go wherever we want like the BART system?

And my LAST gripe I want to bring up is with the card prices. Buying one is difficult enough. I used to be able to go to the Safeway in my area and buy ticket books, but they don’t have the new bus cards yet. I had to go down to San Rafael just to buy this new card. I had also planned to bring my bike to the shop for a free tune-up just so they could tell me that my bike was beyond tuning up and I had to buy new parts, but that’s beside the point. My point is, I bought the $50 inter-county transit card, which they told me only gives me 12 rides back and forth. Was there a more expensive one that could give me more rides than that? Yeah, but that was at another purchasing location.

So my final point is, why oh why do I have to go so far out of my way for a simple discount that only gets me so far and why can’t they give me more rides at those other locations?

Here’s what they should do: if they want a single card system, they should have that thing hard and laminated so that it doesn’t wear so easily, they should let you go from county to county on whatever card you buy AND they should deal them out evenly. Otherwise, if it’s too much of a hassle, just go back to the old ticket books and make it so they don’t expire unless the fare increases. That’s what I think.