Giuliani Livid Over Bringing 9/11 Trials to NYC
FIT Students Busted For Drug Dealing Get Probation
Oreo The Dog Is Dead, Blame Game Is Not
House Cat Terrorizes Family In Dramatic Hostage Situation
Pregnant Woman And Two Men Shot In Clinton Hill Drive-By
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board decided yesterday not to act on a ban of alcoholic beverages on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road. Both railroads sell beer, wine, and liquor (along with soft drinks, water and snacks) from carts at Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station, as well as from bar cars on trains. Sales yielded a $1 million profit for the MTA, so the decision was probably more based on pure hard economics than anything else, although an MTA task force looking into the matter determined the sales did not pose a risk to the safety of commuters.
Even it the MTA did turn off the taps, there are bars in both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal and commuters would still have been able to purchase alcohol to take with them on the train from stores that are not owned by the MTA in both stations. In fact many, including off duty MTA employees, choose to buy their booze from these retailers, since there is a better and often times cheaper selection on offer. Still, thousands of commuters signed petitions against the ban.
An MTA board member from Long Island, Mitchell H. Pally, who was pushing for the ban told the Times, "It is as if we were giving people a license to drink and drive, and that is unacceptable." Pally, who is still pushing for the ban commented to the Associated Press that he felt that, "In my mind, this is not a 'no harm, no foul' issue."
Fun fact: In 1963 the Long Island Rail Road developed its own cocktail called a "Dashing Dan" - 1.6 ounces of vodka on the rocks, a three dashes of orange bitters and a sliver of orange.
Photo of Metro-North Bar Car(t) at Grand Central Terminal by Triborough on flickr
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Pally - super nanny of the MTA. In a time when the MTA has to raise our fares constantly, why get rid of a revenue source? Getting rid of the MTA's ability to sell alcohol would do nothing to stop possible DUI's. What's next? Stop every business within 1000 square feet of Grand Central and Penn Station from selling alcohol?
Dumb idea. Good riddance.
If the ban was about not allowing any drinking on the trains whatsoever, I don't see how it's relevant where it is purchased.
Also, there is more than a little difference between drinking and driving and drinking and riding. I hope Mr. Pally was misquoted.
Thank heavens - New York's nanny state has been beaten back a little - for now.
It is as if we were giving people a license to drink and drive, and that is unacceptable.
Prohibitionist ass-face.
there's more of a tendency to drink if its available on the train/platform...since you can both drink & "catch your train" at the same time...i guess the concern is that these people show up to their home station intoxicated and then many get into a car to drive home.
however, i think these folk tend to just have one drink which shouldn't be a big deal.
the worst is the crowd after a Rangers game
Which is an absurd reason to ban alcohol sales on trains, of course, because people who are willing to drink and drive are just as likely to drive home from a bar as from a train that sells alcohol.
I wish the MTA would put bars into all the trains in and out of Jackson Heights.
Oh, how nice that would be.
Con Edison recently just put a kaybosh on us boyz drinking underground as well.
NOT
Nothing changes unless "Change" is warranted, So this doesn't surprise me a bit ! Posted By; "Still Not Amused"
I think there should be a bar car on the subway. Maybe like the seventh or eighth car.
And BTW, #1 and 3 are dead right.