MTA riders swallow booze hike

[Trainspotter]

MTA riders swallow booze hike

The price of drinks and snacks will rise about 25% Thursday on the MTA, but those who tipple on the trains say they'll still let the good times roll.

 

"It doesn't bother me because it's still cheap," LIRR rider Mattie Bane, 42, of Westhampton, L.I., said Wednesday. "Gas, for instance, is $7 in Ireland, so it's cheap here. It's the same with drinks."

 

Architect Brian Feeney, 50, of Connecticut, wasn't planning to cut back either. "If I want to buy a beer on a Friday afternoon, I'm going to buy it, regardless of the price," he said.

 

The hikes push domestic beers up to $2.25 on the LIRR and $2.50 on Metro-North. Soda and water increase from $1.25 to $1.50 on both lines. Liquor, wine and snack prices are going up too.

 

From: - May 1, 2008

[3rdRailOps]

I commute using the LIRR 5, sometimes 6 days a week.

 

I cannot tell you how many times the trip has been hellish due to drunken individuals on the train. Especially on a Friday or Saturday evening commute into the city.

 

Many of the intoxicated riders are out for a night of "partying" and get it started by getting tanked on the way into the city.

 

A lot of them are obviously under-age as well. But that doesn't really matter, because in all my experience riding the RR, I have yet to see someone asked for proof of age while consuming alcohol while on board the train.

 

For those of us commuting, we are a captive audience to the antics of some of these drunken fools who don't know when it's enough.

 

Once I was on a car with a group of rowdy guys drinking and causing a ruckus. On his way to the bathroom, one of them wasn't fast enough and he threw up right in the aisle. It was so disgusting, but all his buddies had quite a laugh behind it. Myself and others had to move to the next car due to the wretched smell. The train was full by that time and we all wound up standing the rest of way into the city.

 

And what about the fact that some of the 9 to 5ers coming home are drinking it up the whole ride, only to to step off the train and get into a car at their station.

 

What if they are involved in a fatal car accident? Who's fault would that be?

Unfortunately it's that type of scenario that would put and end to liquor sales/consumption on the RR, but someone will probably have to die first.

 

Just my 2 cents...