To the Editor:

As a long time resident of Princeton, I have watched the various conflicting issues that have arisen and evolved: The latest one being the new Dinky Station location.

On this cold, rainy, and blustery winter day, I decided to go down to the new station and see “what hath God wrought.” Everything nice and modern, great new Wawa, thought provoking architecture. But then I went into the new train station itself which consists only of a waiting room. What a disappointment. Sterile is not an adequate word to describe this mine tunnel with windows and benches. If you are a new arrival to the train station waiting room and are looking for a posted train schedule, you will not find it in the train station waiting room. No, that would be too reasonable. You have to go outside to find it. There you are, in the cold, snow, and the wind trying to read the schedule. Would it not have been reasonable to put a train schedule kiosk in the train station waiting room? But now if you have found and consulted the schedule and you know what tickets you would like to purchase, try finding the ticket vending machine. Don’t look in the train station waiting room. Again, that would be too reasonable. No, the ticket vending machines are also outside in the cold, rain, and wind. It makes for more of a challenge as you root through your wallet for credit cards and as your frozen fingers try to manipulate the appropriate buttons on the machine to purchase and retrieve the tickets. Who in the world designed these facilities? Certainly not people who use the trains. Would it not have taken just a little common sense to locate both a train schedule kiosk and a ticket vending machine inside the train station waiting room? On a cold, wet and windy day, I would trade all the fancy architecture for just those two missing items.

William Hoover

Westerly Road