I was on the bus going to work the other day when I passed one of these, right in front of the Staten Island bus depot on Yukon Avenue:

The only difference between this one and the one I saw was the ‘NYCRT’ stenciled on it in big red (dribbling) letters. Maybe I’ll get a picture on the way home tonight.

Can someone explain this to me?

I looked these things up online. They’re called ‘Jersey barriers’ in the trade, unless you’re in California, which naturally can’t call anything they use a ‘Jersey barrier’ so it’s called a ‘K-rail’ out there, which is much more colorful and California-like.

Anyway, the 12 foot version, the one I saw, weighs 2,000 pounds. One ton, for those of you who haven’t passed 7th-grade math yet (I did – in only three years, too).

So will someone tell me why they had to stencil it?

Like somebody was going to drag it away and set it up on their lawn as a decoration?

Or maybe use it around the neighborhood to re-route traffic without anyone noticing?

Then again, maybe I’m just not up on things. For all I know, there might be a whole line of sweatshirts and overalls with the NYCRT logo on them (complete with the red dribble at the end, designed on purpose to look offhand and cool). Maybe placing this outside the bus depot was just clever advertising.

It’s not like it couldn’t happen. The LA County Coroner’s Office has a gift shop where you can buy t-shirts and beach towels with the dead body outline on them.

If NYCRT starts appearing on everything tomorrow, I want royalties. You read it here first. You’re my witness…