Wednesday, July 22, 1998

Not cruise ship, Lollipop

The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are now studying the cause of the fire aboard the cruise ship Ecstasy and undoubtedly will come up with useful recommendations about smoke detectors and laundry room wiring.

Here's another recommendation the transportation industry should implement: In the event of a mishap, the passengers should be quickly and fully informed of what went wrong.

Passengers aboard the Ecstasy complained the worst part of the fire was the uncertainty. Crew members were little help. Typical was this comment: "There was total lack of information. They weren't upfront with us." Many of the passengers only learned of the extent of the fire by cell phone calls to spectators on shore.

In the event, the 2,575 passengers waited patiently in their life jackets until the ship returned safely to harbor. However, farther out to sea, it wouldn't take too much in the way of rumors to start a panic in a crowd that size.

Too often, when something goes wrong, passengers are expected to stand around in docility and ignorance. They are treated to the self-evident and patronizing rubric, "We are experiencing a temporary delay." Airlines, subways, commuter lines and Amtrak all find people are generally cooperative, accommodating, even amiable when problems like delays and breakdowns are fully explained to them.

And the best thing about forthright information: It doesn't cost a thing.