Know what MTA (and most other monopolies) absolutely suck at, but which is the core lifeblood of virtually every other business in the world?

Marketing.

Seriously, when was the last time you turned on your television set or opened your newspaper and saw an advertisement promoting the advantages of taking a Metro-North train over your car?

Or MTA adjust pricing on rush hour trains to manage crowd distribution?

Or maybe hire a web designer to make their website not look like it hasn’t changed since 1992?

Or anything else imaginative and original besides begging for fare hikes?

They just dont do it.

Why bother?

Since they are a monopoly, if their margins arent cutting it, they just let old equipment stay in service forever and raise fares if they need more money.

There is no need to be concerned about pissing anyone off, they have nowhere else to turn.

Which is probably why, when Waterbury, Connecticut residents successfully lobbied for a new early 5:57 train to Stamford which went into effect on Monday, there were only 36 RIDERS, while the 6:40 was still packed to the gills.

From Courant.com

“[The Conductor] collected about three dozen tickets between Waterbury and Bridgeport, but predicted many of the usual 6:40 riders will switch when they hear about the early train. ”

This would make a marketer’s head explode – it is METRO-NORTH MARKETING which is responsible for making sure PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE TRAIN.

Know what would be a good way to let people know about the train? How about instead of Nickelodeon ads on the posterboards on the train, they put up a notice letting people know THERE IS ANOTHER TRAIN AT 5:56 STARTING APRIL 7th AND ITS NOT CROWDED!

I think that would work pretty good.

Or how about this – while she is collecting tickets on the 6:40, the conductor lets everyone know about the new 5:56 train starting on April 7th ?

This would be a marketer’s dream come true – delivering a marketing message directly, in person, to the precise demographic who would be using the product, at the exact moment when they were wishing there were another car they could take that isn’t as crowded.

But then again, no one has every accused anyone of giving the Waterbury branch any love.