The Tallboy Rebellion

Don’t just stand there, create an acronym:

A proposed booze ban on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road has a group of commuters banding together to insist that the next stop not be prohibition.

. . .

Board member Mitchell Pally said the MTA, a state entity, shouldn’t encourage alcohol use. Some riders drive home after riding the train, he said, raising a safety concern. And alcohol use can lead to boorish behavior, Pally said.

But a spokesman for the recently formed Commuters Allied for Responsible Enjoyment, or CARE, said taking away a cold beer on the ride home after a hard day at the office would be an injustice.

“I’ve been burdened by people talking loudly and too long on their cell phones, by people eating pungent foods . . . awful odors from the bathrooms and overcrowding, but I’ve never had a problem where someone was acting in a drunken manner,” CARE spokesman Richard Shea said.

Kevin Pearce, a Metro-North rider and founding member of CARE, said the concept of Pally’s prohibition is patronizing and insulting.

“I’m not a child,” Pearce, an editor at a cable television network, said. “I’m not the frat-house rush chairman. I’m an ordinary taxpaying commuter who is a calm, peaceful person, just like 99.9% of people on the train.”

Another founding member and Metro-North rider said a booze ban would be an affront to American freedom – and he’s from London, where they still stop traffic for royalty.

“It’s preposterous,” said David Karat, a finance executive. “All we’re trying to do is have a quiet respectable drink on the train on our way home to our families.”

The first shot in the battle will be a letter-writing campaign to pressure MTA board members and elected officials to reject any ban. CARE will soon have a Web site up and running (www.alliedcommuters.com).

Gold Coast Metro-North Commuters To LIRR Customers: Hold Your Liquor, Lightweights!

Battle lines are being drawn in an intra-agency debate over alcohol on trains as Metro-North takes a pro-hooch stand:

The state announced plans last week to buy new bar cars for the Metro-North New Haven line, even as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages on commuter trains and platforms.

Eugene Colonese, the rail administrator for the state Department of Transportation, would not say when or how many cars would be bought, but he left no doubt that the state was committed to bar car service.

“We will do our utmost to maintain it,” he said.

Mr. Colonese’s comments came after an M.T.A. board member from Long Island, Mitchell H. Pally, proposed banning alcohol on all M.T.A. trains. The New Haven line, which has bar carts at Grand Central Terminal as well as 10 bar cars on trains, is run by the state and Metro-North, which is part of the M.T.A.

. . .

Drinking on trains became an issue after a woman who was found to be intoxicated was killed in Queens in August after she fell between a station platform and an L.I.R.R. train and was hit by another train.

But many Westchester and Connecticut residents who use the bar cars on the New Haven line defended them, saying most people drank responsibly.

“I have yet to see a person get that drunk on a bar car,” said Terri Cronin, vice chairwoman of the Metro-North/Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, a riders’ advocacy group.

Ms. Cronin said she had been riding in the 5:46 p.m. bar car to Norwalk almost every workday for more than four years.

“Most people that are drunk on the train get on that way,” she said.

Mr. Colonese said that there are no bar cars among the 300 new cars scheduled to be delivered in 2009, at a cost of $75 million, but that the next car order would include them.

Ms. Cronin said she would like to see the bar cars replaced as soon as possible.

“They’re old and practically falling apart,” she said.

It’s Not So Much A Quota As It Is A Make-Work Plan For Its Enforcement Agents*

A Department of Sanitation representative tries to explain the five cigarette butt rule to a tough crowd:

When it comes to giving tickets, the city’s Department of Sanitation (DOS) does not have quotas.

That was the word from the agency’s citywide community affairs officer, Ignazio Terranova, who was in the hot seat as he responded to claims that the agency is more than eager to give out summonses, during the December meeting of the Friends United Block Association (FUBA).

Speaking to the group gathered at Temple Shaare Emeth, 6012 Farragut Road, Terranova acknowledged that DOS enforcement officers could make mistakes, but insisted that the agency is not writing tickets simply to make up a certain number and fill the city’s coffers.

“We do not have a quota, whether people choose to believe it or not,” Terranova asserted. Nonetheless, he added, “But we did not hire 56 new enforcement agents to go out and sit in a car and drink coffee all day. Their job is to find summonses, whether five or 50 in a day.”

There are perameters that must be exceeded, said Terranova, for a ticket to be written. “You’re not going to get a summons for one item,” Terranova contended. “If there’s a cap on one water bottle, you’re not going to get a summons. What constitutes a summons is five things wrong with the garbage or five things on the floor. On the sidewalk, it could be one plastic cup and four cigarette butts. That constitutes five items.”

Keeping your sidewalk and 18 inches into the gutter clean, Terranova added, is a matter of making sure it is free of debris two hours a day — from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from noon to 1 p.m. That is actually an improvement, he told his listeners; before a relatively recent law was passed, residents could be ticketed at any hour of the day or night, seven days a week.

*At least he didn’t call it “productivity goals”!

Cool, But After The Latest Fare Hike We’ll Expect To Find Complimentary Bottled Water Next

Upgrades mandated after the last taxi fare hike (meaning, the one that took effect on May 1, 2004, not the latest fare hike) will finally be rolled out:

The cab of the future is here — a place where passengers can watch television, get the weather forecast and pay by credit card.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission showcased the model cabs yesterday, with real ones hitting the streets as soon as Monday. Among the new features:

• Digital television monitors with touch-screen controls. Some offer segments from network news; other articles on news, entertainment and sports also are offered in text. Passengers can research restaurants, clubs and other activities — or just turn the darn things off.
• Debit and credit card readers allow passengers pay with plastic. The fare — which tells riders how much of it went to tolls or surcharges — is displayed on the interactive screen. Riders can even choose to have tip percentages calculated for them. No signatures or codes are required for fares under $25.
• The monitors all have an electronic map featuring the cab’s location from start to finish for each trip. Riders can see if the taxi is taking an unnecessarily circuitous route; the TLC also can track taxis if, for example, a passenger left a belonging inside a cab.

A New Slippier Kind Of Slope

The fact is that slopes in the 21st century are steeper and more slippery. To wit: the MTA goes from talking about stopping sales of alcohol to banning it altogether in just one week:

Big brother may be coming for your Bud tallboy, Metro-North and LIRR commuters.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is forming a task force to consider a possible ban on drinking alcohol on commuter railroad trains. The task force also will review a watered-down measure that would allow riders to bring their own libations onto trains, but cease the railroads from selling booze to passengers.

“My personal opinion is we should severely limit, at least limit, the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages,” Kalikow said after a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting.

. . .

Both railroads sell beer, wine and liquor from carts on the platforms of Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and a few other hubs during the weekday evening rushes. Riders can also bring alcoholic beverages onto trains.

Two LIRR commuter trains sell alcohol onboard and some trains on Metro-North’s New Haven Line have bar cars that are operated by the state of Connecticut. Connecticut would have to agree to turning off the taps on those trains, MTA officials said.

Even if the task force recommends a “last call for alcohol” there’s hope for commuters who enjoy a cocktail on their trips. The full MTA board would have to approve such a measure. That could take some time. Kalikow said the task force would review all existing railroad rules to see if other changes are warranted.