This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Bus Chick is in awe by New York transit riders, who get to buy a cocktail before starting their evening commute. The MTA (New York’s transit authority) threatened to ban the practice, citing concerns about commuters drinking and then getting in their cars when they got to their station.
This is one of the great pleasures of the Long Island (and Metro North) Rail Road. There’s a transit employee working the bar right on the platform where, during the evening rush hour, you can order a drink and step into your train. It’s brilliant. Especially if you’re about to board a 2-hour train to the Hamptons on a Friday night.
I fondly remember brown-bagging a six pack on my way in to Madison Square Garden to see a show. The train conducters tolerated it, so long as you didn’t get rowdy (or put your feet on up on the seats).
If you recall, the Campbell Scott’s character in Singles was trying to build a “supertrain” in Seattle that served drinks.
“People like their cars,” the fictional mayor (Tom Skerritt) told him, dismissing the idea.
Sad, but true. Maybe if they got used to the idea of cocktails on the train, they’d change their mind. As Josh Feit noted this weekend, public transit improves ones ability to party without worrying about getting behind the wheel. That’s something we should all be able to get behind.