kpozin.net Projects & Musings by Konstantin Pozin

On the way from New York to Boston today, I encountered something new: the "Greyhound Security" desk. Here's how it works:

• A few dozen people stand in line of the gate for Greyhound departures to Boston at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. There is also a priority boarding line for the same bus, and a line for people who will be getting off at the Newton, MA stop. There are also a dozen or so other Greyhound gates.
• A cart marked "Greyhound Security," manned by two Greyhound employees in uniform, is rolled up to the side of the main line for Boston.
• The employees call one person from the line at a time to come to the cart with his or her carry-on bag.
• The passenger is asked to take out his ticket and empty his pockets into a plastic bin. Then, one guard looks through the carry-on bag with all the dilligence of a Lamont Library attendant, while the other guard waves a hand-held metal detector over the passenger.

What all this is supposed to accomplish is beyond me. The cursory checks wouldn't prevent anyone from hiding something dangerous in his stowed luggage or even in the carry-on. Moreover, passengers not in the main line, or those who are in the main line but don't get checked before the bus starts boarding, are never looked at. I'll leave it to the reader to think of any of dozen ways that someone with bad intentions might bypass the check.

It's security theater, plain and simple.

And I guess that in this economy, it does have a possible benefit: it allows a few "security guards" to have a source of income. Which, of course, is reflected in the higher prices of bus tickets.