More Transit Tribulations

[WishfulSpirit]

So my adventures on public transit (which I use every day since I don't have a car) are a frequent subject of my posts. Today I have another one.

Say you're a light rail operator (basically commuter train that doesn't go underground). It's 6:10 in the morning (which for the Mile High City in February is predawn) and the thermometer reads 23 degrees F (-5 C). Do you:

A. Turn the heat on
B. Do nothing
C. Turn the AC up full blast, so that passengers are shivering and blowing on their hands trying to keep warm

If you choose C, you're the driver I had the pleasure of riding with today. Next time I'm using the intercom to tell the arsehole to turn the heat on. If he gets pissy I'm reporting him. Note that I'm going to ask nicely (no sense being an SC, it just makes people want to be rude to you).

[Minflick]

Was it actually in his control, though? I know sometimes things like that are centrally controlled, and capricious in the extreme...!

[Crossbow]

If your mass transit is anything like ours, it could also be that the AC was broken and stuck on.

Shouldn't have left the yard like that, but it happens all the time.

[Mr Hero]

Wonder if it's automatic because we have recently had a nice heatwave, and the AC/heater hadn't adjusted to the sudden cold weather yet.

[WishfulSpirit]

To be honest I'm not sure if train operators control that (bus drivers do but buses are different). The fact that it might not be in his control didn't really occur to me (tired that morning, Hubby kept kicking me in the middle of the night). I'm hoping it was a problem with AC on that train. My train home (still chilly out) had heat on. I did submit a comment to the transit office so they can know they either need to talk to the driver or have someone look at the HVAC on that train.

[Kogarashi]

It's always frustrating when the AC gets turned on higher than people need it to be. This is why my hubby had to approach the leadership at our church in a previous state and ask them to turn up the heat a bit. The leadership (all men in suits with coats) were up on the stands where the vents weren't pointed. The vents instead pointed at the rest of the congregation, more than half of whom were women and children not wearing suit coats, and thus shivering.

There was a similar problem with the ladies' class in the church I grew up in, because about half the class was older women who overheated easily, while the other half was younger women who got to shiver through the older women turning up the AC to full-blast. It finally reached a point where the class leadership asked the older ladies to sit on the side of the room where the AC vents were so things could be more bearable for everyone involved.

[Monterey Jack]

It always pisses me off in the winter months when the foyers at work have this wave of SICKENINGLY HOT air blowing directly in your face as you enter...yes, it might be 25 degrees w/wind chill outside, but for a few seconds I literally cannot BREATHE as I enter the store, and if I'm doing a carriage shift, then that means I have to go into and out of that foyer literally a hundred times or more. Equally bad is in the summer months, when movie theaters crank up the AC to ludicrous degrees...yes, it might be initially refreshing when I first enter the theater lobby, all red-faced and dripping with sweat, but once I've settled into my seat, the AC is going to freeze all of that sweat on my skin and clothes and make the next 2+ hours into a teeth-chattering trial.

[Minflick]

I can't remember I went to a movie in my sleeves. I ALWAYS take a jacket with me for the AC. I can take the jacket off if I'm too warm, but I can't unfreeze myself and enjoy anything without that jacket.

[WishfulSpirit]

I always have a jacket with me for that reason too. I'm always cold.

[Monterey Jack]

Since I walk everywhere, carrying a jacket around in the summertime is just not an option.

[Kogarashi]

I tie mine around my waist when not wearing it. It tends to double as my purse.

[Monterey Jack]

I always have a backpack when I'm walking, but it seems like a waste to use it to hold a light jacket when it's 95 degrees out, just because I'm going to a movie.

[Mr Hero]

I tend to bring a jacket to the movies for reasons other than having something warm in a full-blast AC auditorium.

[greek_jester]

I tend to bring a jacket to the movies for reasons other than having something warm in a full-blast AC auditorium.

Agreed. I usually take a hoodie with me, since I'm quite short and my head leans against the back of the seat. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the last time the seats were cleaned was when Maggie Thatcher was still Prime Minister *shudders*

[Minflick]

Now THAT'S a disgusting thought!