Not so fast, proudly imbibing “pre-gamers” of the so-called free world. Consumption of alcohol on trains this coming weekend is expressly prohibited, according to the MTA.
“The ban will be in effect beginning 4 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14, through 12 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15,” the agency announced. “Alcohol consumption will also be prohibited at all LIRR and Metro-North station platforms during these hours.”
This development does not come as much of a surprise, given that similar bans have been issued in years past. It’s no secret that local train cars have endured years of being the unwitting recipient of undue damage, and even more unwelcome violence, from riders making their way to and from the holiday season’s most festive day-drinking event.
Moreover: the MTA is not going beyond their jurisdiction to suggest how one should elect to spend their day, or days. At the same time, its actions speak less like words, and more like relevant lyrics from the last call at the bar staple, “Closing Time” by Semisonic.
So says the MTA; you don’t have to leave your alcohol at home—but you can’t drink it here.
Beyond what the MTA can control, an increased police presence will define the Penn Station and Grand Central terminal stopgaps as SantaCon-bound party-chasers seek to become partygoers.
Therefore, those who desire to pull a fast one—surreptitiously indulging in “tallboy” open containers concealed through 7/11-provided brown paper bags, solo cups, or within layers of winter clothing—ought to be on higher alert than one usually can hope to be while voluntarily under the influence of a certifiable inhibition and faculty-surrendering substance.
As the remainder of the MTA’s announcement continues: “Police will confiscate alcoholic beverages and issue summonses. Violators may also be subject to removal from trains or stations by police.”
Bans have not deterred uniformed allegiance of the Tri-state professional sports world, nor everyday “back-and-forth” commuters, from pledging to tie one on just as they typically would for occasions special to them, but considered rudimentary in the grand scheme. Expect a large crop of the lot to fearlessly process the ban as an invitation to commit a nostalgia-inducing act of defiance.
Railroad agencies on the local front have practiced more lenience than they could continually afford to in the age of smartphones. Enhanced surveillance in general has made possible the video documentation of just about every destructive instance of preventable havoc being wreaked within their train cars on a regular basis.
The LIRR did away with bar carts in operation at its high-activity with NYC proximity platforms in March 2018; decades earlier, carts had even been on the trains themselves.
“These are the last of the bar carts on any part of the MTA system,” legislator and agency board member Mitchell Pally told The New York Post at the time.
“I do not think we should be serving alcohol… I've been saying this for 12 years, ever since I got on the board—“Wait until you get home in your own house,” he advised.
Whereas, in this particular case that is inherently incumbent with annual revisitation, the MTA simply says this: wait until you get where you are heading, and away from us—not because we don’t want the responsibility, but because we want you to have some modicum of responsibility on a day that motivates you to relinquish cares altogether.
For all those who partake: stay safe, and happy holidays.