(Via Drudge) I’d find this funny, except that somebody’s going to lose their job over it…
MTA Operator Let Kid Drive Train, Rider Claims
Driving a subway is so easy an 8-year-old could do it – and one straphanger claims that’s who he saw behind the controls of his train.
Jules Cattie, a 41-year-old lawyer who lives on the East Side, was shocked when he saw a young child at the helm, next to the driver, of his Lexington Avenue express train Sunday, according to the Daily News. And the MTA says it’s launched “a vigorous and thorough investigation” into the allegation.
…which is a shame (says the son of a railroad man). Letting your kid take a supervised shot at the greatest train set in the world is in fact a tradition; it’s kind of a working class thing – one that’s kind of linked to the old days, when child followed parent into a particular job – so it’s not really something that you can explain properly. I mean, I know perfectly well why this woman was showing her son how to operate the subway car; but expressing why to somebody who don’t get it seems to be frankly a bit of a chore, seeing that I’m not personally involved.