petaluma1

There 104 stations on 6 lines. Did the article say how many stations are getting these things? Seems to me that if every station doesn't have one, then the whole exercise is a boondoggle.

Boggie Dog

Almost like something TSA would dream up.

TWA884

Considering the the figure cited in the linked Wikipedia article for the Los Angeles MTA is for only one 17.4 miles long line, the Red line - the Purple line is a spur of the Red line - the figures are quite respectable. Only four US mass transit systems have more riders per mile than Los Angeles; NYC, NJ (PATH), Boston and Philadelphia.

petaluma1

A freakin' waste of money.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/u...-scanners.html

ethernal

They keep using this word - I'm beginning to think they don't actually know what it means...

nachtnebel

They should just use the term "voluntold" not volunteered

VelvetJones

I think the other loop hole they use is the ticket purchase. All commercial airline tickets in the US have a security waiver that states that you agree to being screened. I don't think that trick is going to fly on mass-transit.Then again, it hasn't stopped them before.

chrisl137

Seems rather pointless since most of the metro is above ground and travels at grade anyway. An attacker doesn't need access to the platforms or inside the trains to make a mess of a train.

Boggie Dog

Since TSA is involved in this boondoggle can I safely suspect that federal tax dollars paid for these machines? <redacted>.

VelvetJones

Taking it another step further... What makes a subway so special? Is it the bottleneck of the toll styles that makes it easy to implement this sort of BS? A city bus would be just as easy and deadly target, yet no one has attacked one and any of this security theater for buses would be laughable at best. Ask yourself who benefits from this sort of nonsense. You'll find your answer very quickly.

Boggie Dog

Local subways/light rail systems are closed loop. Any disruption would be localized and not a fatal event for a large group of people. Might tie up traffic or inconvenience people but is that really worth this kind of response?

Would be interested in the senior executives of the company making these devices and whose hands in government are being greased.

WillCAD

Yeah, and if you think about it, a subway or light rail train is merely a venue for attack, whereas a city bus is a potential weapon. Imagine the carnage that will result when one of those loons hijacks a city bus and drives it through a throng of people leaving a sporting event or concert in a crowded downtown district. Or when one of them hijacks a school bus and drives it through a crowd of kids being dismissed from school.

It's inevitable. It will happen eventually. The nutjobs have realized the deadly nature of cars and trucks and started using them for vehicular attacks in recent years. It's only a matter of time before a major vehicle attack occurs in the US, whether with a hijacked bus or a rented/stolen/borrowed truck. And the resulting public outrage will give TSA carte blanche in all transportation modes, not just aviation.

halls120

Already happened in OK City, many years ago.

WillCAD

That was a bomb, located inside a truck. The WTC bomb in 1993 was also in a truck. As was the bomb that took out the US Marine barracks in Beirut in, I think it was 1983.

A vehicle-based bomb isn't exactly the same as a vehicle attack. In a vehicle bomb attack, the vehicle is merely a delivery mechanism for the weapon, but in a vehicle attack, the vehicle itself is the weapon, running people down like a lawnmower. It's these attacks which are on the rise, and it's inevitable that one will take place using a hijacked municipal or school bus, or a stolen charter bus, or a stolen piece of construction equipment like a garbage or dump truck. Any of which would then cause another wave of panic through the US as people scream for tighter security on buses and trucks and other equipment.

I fear the extra costs that such panic would impose on businesses across the country after such an attack. Almost as much as the attack itself.

saizai

TSA already asserts authority for all transportation modes.

"Almost"? Surely the costs of post-9/11 stuff has cost orders of magnitude more than the damage itself, let alone if you include the subsequent wars.