MetroNorth Dysfunction Kills People...Again

Well, the biggest news on the national scene as of right now is in my backyard.

As this article points out, MetroNorth is just north of a clusterfuck.  MetroNorth is part of my life five days a week.  None of this surprises me.  MetroNorth is a creature of the typically corrupt, union-dominated, patronage-seeking dysfunction that pervades "government services" in the NYC metro region and New York state as a whole.

The unions have bled dry the money available for maintenance of infrastructure, they have taken all accountability out of the staffing of this critical service, and they abuse the railroad as a patronage tool.  There are thousands of do-nothing jobs on MetroNorth and you couldn't get fired if you tried.  That's why day to day the service suck, the costs keep rising, and safety has deteriorated to the point that, too regularly, the piper has to be paid in lives.

Every morning I get off the train and am greeted by the site of numerous loafing union members in their little neon orange vests standing around doing nothing drinking coffee.  I'd say inefficiency is a fair trade if the trains managed to stay on the tracks and people didn't die, but, alas, they don't.