New York's Metro-North Railroad says its experiment with "quiet cars" is so popular that the program will be expanded to all rush-hour trains next month.
The railroad says the last car on all morning trains and the first car on all evening trains will be designated as quiet cars.
That means cell phones; music players and other electronic devices will be prohibited unless they can be operated quietly. Headphones will have to be at a volume that cannot be heard by others. Conversation must be subdued. Quiet cars started as a pilot program last fall. Metro-North says riders who were surveyed overwhelmingly support the program. The program is voluntary but conductors will issue "Shh!" cards to customers who are too loud.
His happens because Metro has the wrong goal in mind. Metro’s goal is to keep the trains moving on or close to the schedule. To achieve that goal, trains are at times sent on their way from stations without a full exchange of departing and boarding passengers. Instead, the goal in operating the trains should be to move as many passengers as possible from the station where they get on board to the station where they alight.
During off-peak operating hours, the first goal probably also satisfies the second and more fundamental goal. But in the crowding at peak hours, Metro should adjust the schedules to allow more dwell time in the stations where the greatest number of passengers arrive and depart. That is, they should adopt the passenger movement goal, and accept the fact that train movement will be slower than currently scheduled in the area of the most crowded stations.
The statistics on Metrorail’s malfunctioning doors are abysmal and embarrassing [“Metro’s train doors irk riders, operators,” Metro, March 18]. As a daily rider for more than a decade, I cannot count the number of times that trains I’ve been on have had to be taken out of service because of malfunctioning doors. Even more disturbing than the technology problems is the faulty rationale that the best solution for door problems during rush hour is to offload an entire train. Is it really best to take a train, which at peak capacity can contain nearly a thousand riders, out of service rather than have the operator take the time to manually put the one car with the problematic doors out of service?
two-month tryout, Metro-North Railroad announced Tuesday it will add quiet cars on a permanent basis to all peak-hour trains on the New Haven Line, providing sanctuary from ringing cell phones and limiting conversations to hushed tones.\
Metro-North Railroad peak hour trains like the quiet cars so much that beginning April 2, every peak hour train will have one, the railroad said Tuesday.
The railroad calls it the Quiet CALMmute program and has been testing out the idea on the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines, designating one car on some trains in which riders are expected to make little noise.
“Quiet cars are a hit,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut. “With very few exceptions, people have quickly adapted to the new etiquette.”
The program, which was introduced on a total of 18 morning and afternoon rush-hour trains in January, will be spread to 60 trains each in the morning and evening rush-hour periods starting April 2, according to Metro-North. The cars will be added to all Hudson and Harlem peak-hour trains at the same time to coincide with a new spring timetable, according to Metro-North.Connecticut launched the pilot program, called New Haven Line CALMmute, on Jan. 9, after a trial on the Hudson and Harlem lines that began in the fall met with good reviews from passengers. Wherever we've tried, it, has been a wild success and people have learned very quickly which car to go to if they want to take a nap or read a book," railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. "We've had very, very few comments that could remotely be considered a problem."
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