Stupid petition is pushing for googly eyes on NJ Transit trains

This feels too dumb to be real. Yet it’s already been picked up by a few websites and is being reported as true. Also, it’s a bit late for an April Fool’s gag. It certainly feels like one, though.

There’s a group of weirdos, excuse me, I mean "enthusiasts," who started a petition to coax NJ Transit to put googly eyes on trains. Just…because.

Yes, this is a real petition

They say commutes are boring or stressful or both and seeing your train sporting big googly eyes as it pulls into a station will cheer people up. Personally, this would creep me out like a nightmarish Thomas the Tank Engine unleashed straight out of Hell.

Still thinking this had to be a failed bit, I did some research to find that the Associated Press has covered a story last year out of Boston about how googly eyes were put on MBTA subway cars. Same thing. A group of people pushed for this to brighten people’s days. I’m sorry if you don’t find googly eyes on trains disturbing, then I guess you also don’t see how haunting old ladies' porcelain dolls are.

Request by 'Google Eyes NJ'

Next, I went to the petition itself for change.org and sure enough, there it was. Started by a group calling themselves Googly Eyes NJ, it states the following:

“Googly eyes on trains has been a massive success in Boston. Everyone doubted the googly eyes at first, and now? Seeing them is the best part of people's days. If Boston could do it, so can we!

Let's bring a smile to harried New Jersey commuters. Let's put googly eyes on the trains.”

Who pays for this?

This petition has just shy of 300 signatures at present. While there’s no point behind putting those jiggling googly eyes on an NJ Transit train other than whimsy, there’s also no real harm either. And the people who launched this nonsense swear they’ll pay for the eyes and everything needed to affix them to the fronts of trains so it won’t come out of taxes, fares, or budgets.

Is anyone yet willing to admit this is not for real? I sent an email to the organizers asking, “Is this petition an April Fool's gag that went on too long? Who's behind it?”

I received this answer from the organization:

"We can confirm this is not an April Fool's gag. It's meant to make you laugh, but we're serious about our vision, which aims to inject a little bit of joy and fun into the slog of the daily commute. There’s no deeper message or meaning! We simply want to see googly eyes on the trains. (And we’ll pay for it ourselves, too.)"

As far as who is behind it? All I was told is it's two NJ Transit riders, both of whom reside in Central Jersey. One of them is a transplant from Boston, where they got the idea for the eyes.

Sorry guys, I'm still kind of rolling mine. But if you'd like to sign that petition, here it is.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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