The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Reducing quiet cars without a peep
“Train time is your own time” was the old marketing slogan of Metro-North, encouraging commuters to kick back and enjoy the ride while reading, working or taking a snooze.
But in reality, train time is shared time. They don’t call it “mass transit” for nothing as passengers share their space with a hundred other commuters on each railcar. Assuming you get a seat, this means you’re squeezed next to one or two fellow riders.
Commuters are usually respectful of each other and don’t blare their radios or carry on loud conversations. Or so we’d hope.
It was nearly 20 years ago when Amtrak first introduced the concept of the quiet car, following suggestions of daily commuters riding to DC. It was such a success that quiet cars were soon added to other Northeast Corridor trains and Acela. The concept was simple, as conductors reminded passengers on every trip: maintain a “library-like atmosphere.”
That meant no cellphone calls and only quiet, subdued conversation. You
want to yuck it up over a beer, go to the cafe car. Got an important phone call — sit in any other coach.
Other commuter railroads picked up Amtrak’s cue — but not MetroNorth. While serving on the Connecticut MetroNorth Commuter Council, I regularly beseeched the railroad to give us a break and dedicate just one car to peace and quiet, convinced it would attract riders. Finally in 2011, the railroad took the hint and launched such a car, branded as a Quiet CALMmute.
Victory for the sonically overloaded? Not by a long shot. This is Metro-North, and if anyone can mess up a good idea, this company can.
Metro-North first offered the worst car location on the train for CALMmute: the last car inbound and the first car outbound from Grand Central. There were also no signs indicating which car was “quiet.” Worst of all, conductors all but refused to enforce the quiet rules, leading to confrontations between passengers. Conductors have no trouble enforcing other rules: luggage on the overhead racks, no feet on the seats, no smoking and other issues. But asking people to keep down the chatter was apparently too much. All they would do, at first, was hand “Shhh cards” to offenders.
In 2016, the program was expanded to two cars per train, peak and offpeak. But, still no signage — until just recently — and no enforcement.
Now, a major change. The railroad announced that, effective immediately, there would be only one quiet car per off-peak train. The PR team at MNRR spun the story so well that some local media made it sound like the program was being expanded, not cut in half. Brilliant.
There was no explanation for the cut in quiet cars, though one official said, “we have had no reports of quiet car demand exceeding availability in the off-peak.” In other words, people who ride off-peak just prefer to yap.
That’s an amazing PR spin on what is really an admission of failure. Metro-North never wanted quiet cars and clearly didn’t want to enforce the rules. The people have literally “spoken,” and the Quiet CALMmute won’t be as accessible anymore.
This is what happens when you have a monopoly, answerable to nobody, especially its customers. I’d raise my voice in protest but — I’m in the quiet car.