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Task force won’t recommend booze ban on LIRR, Metro-North

Task force won’t recommend booze ban on LIRR, Metro-North
Jill Stone  |  by www.newstimeslive.com. All rights reserved. 17.07 | 3:18

NEW YORK (AP) mdash; A task force has concluded there rsquo;s no need to stop passengers from drinking on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said today. The group found there was no safety risk in letting riders buy and drink alcohol on board, spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. He said the task force decided unanimously to recommend no changes to the railroads rsquo; decades-old policy of allowing alcohol.

The MTA board is likely to discuss the issue at a June 27 meeting, Soffin said. The task force rsquo;s recommendation stood to cheer many riders dismayed at the prospect of losing what they see as a relaxing ritual. Vendors sell beer and wine on train platforms, and commuters can buy drinks on board some trains.

"Id expect a very happy rsquo;happy hour rsquo; on the bar cars this evening," said Terri Cronin, vice chairwoman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, a riders advocacy group that gathered petition signatures from bar car users and testified before the task force.

The MTA board created the task force in December, after board member Mitch Pally proposed banning alcohol from the railroads. Pally said he was concerned about drunken driving.

His proposal came amid a spate of accidents in which commuters have fallen through gaps between platforms and trains. In one deadly case, a Minnesota teenager was killed when she fell through a gap at an LIRR platform in August 2006. Authorities said her blood-alcohol level was 0.

23 percent, nearly three times the legal driving limit. Connecticut Commuter Rail Council Chairman Jim Cameron said his group had noted that dozens of passengers who had not been drinking had also fallen into such gaps. "The solution seemed obvious to us," Cameron said.

"Fix the gaps but dont penalize responsible adults who want a beer on their way home." Almost 1,000 Long Island and Metro-North railroad passengers last year were so drunk they needed medical attention, and about 300 people were ticketed for drinking alcohol and creating disturbances in trains or stations, The New York Times reported Thursday. But in many cases, the riders who needed medical attention apparently imbibed largely or entirely before boarding trains, according to the newspaper, which obtained the statistics from Metropolitan Transportation Authority police.

The task force "found no connection between the sale and consumption of alcohol on trains and any safety issues whatsoever," Soffin said. Pally rsquo;s proposal met opposition from the Connecticut Transportation Department, which runs bar cars on Metro-North rsquo;s New Haven line, in conjunction with the MTA. The Connecticut agency sees the Metro-North bar cars as "a valuable service to our customers," according to its rail administrator, Gene Colonese.

Thousands of passengers signed petitions opposing the potential booze ban, according to the Times. Some opponents banded together in a group called Commuters Allied for Responsible Enjoyment. Richard Shea, one of the group rsquo;s founders, is loath to part with the possibility of a beer on his way home from his job as a public relations executive.

"It rsquo;s one of the things that makes this slog north or east palatable," said Shea, who rides Metro-North trains to and from his home in Chappaqua, in Westchester County. this story has 0 comments.

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Keywords: Metro North, Transportation Authority, Long Island, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, Metropolitan Transportation
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