Grinds My Gears: Public Transportation Edition

After living in the city of Philadelphia for the past decade, I've come to develop a love/hate relationship with the public transit system known as SEPTA. Many native Philadelphians share the same sentiment and for good reason; the unions usually strike every year or at least once every three years, there's always mechanical problems, the trains are unkempt, and if there's a Phils or Eagles game you should avoid going south of City Hall.

Over the past year, SEPTA has been desperately trying to make upgrades to its archaic trans pass system. Philly is one of the few major cities that still use tokens, and is the ONLY city to label their weekly and monthly passes with a "m" sticker for Male and "f" sticker for Female (a practice that has come under much scrutiny, and makes no sense in my opinion). What Grinds My Gears about SEPTA, besides the the trains and buses being consistently late, is the fact that you can't get change....ANYWHERE! In March of this year SEPTA decided that their change machines would no longer give quarters, nickels or dimes, but rather the dreaded Sacajawea dollar coins. Why is this such an issue?

1. If you have a Cross County pass, you only need 50 cents to ride the El and Subway lines during the week

2. The booth operators at the stations DO NOT give change

See the dilemma? So as a concerned citizen I wrote to SEPTA and this was the response:

All SEPTA change machines were switched to dollar coins only in March 2011 to reduce/eliminate outside vendors (e.g. newspaper vendors, etc...) from utilizing SEPTA change machines for their own banking business using all of the change in the machines and causing them to go out of service...

Really SEPTA?! Have you EVER gone to a business and gone in and asked for change for a dollar without purchasing something? Or tried to ask for change from a Sacajawea coin?! Shop owners look at you like you're trying to trade Canadian money! The unions strike two years in a row and I can't even get change for a dollar?! I don't understand why the booth operators or the turnstiles can't give me change for a dollar! That other 50 cents is much needed laundry money.

And that's what Grinds My Gears.