No More Bar Cars on Metra

[Drover]

Originally Posted by via chicago

The ironic thing is theres really no one to stop you from doing it on the L.

Well if someone was bothered enough, they could call up to the driver who in turn could have security pull you out of the train at the next stop. My experience has been if you sit there and drink quietly and inconspicuously and mind your own business, everyone else will mind theirs.

[raleightransplant]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

I have had a beer or two on the Metra before, but never in the bar car (as they've been gone from the lines I ride for years).

I used to ride from Union Station down to Orland Park a lot, and there was one guy who would bring a cooler onto the train every day with a six pack in it, and I'll be damned if he didn't go pretty far towards polishing it off in the hour the train ride took.

He said his wife would send him to work every morning with the thing filled with six cans of soda and he'd drink those at work, and then buy himself 6 cans of beer and drink those, too. (In case you're keeping track, assuming the soda wasn't diet, that's be 12-1800 calories in beverages alone. Every day. Guy had a gut on him.)

I was in London this summer when they were about to ban beer on public transportation. Cans of beer on the double-deckers. Fun times.

LOL! I'm just picturing this guy...not enough exercise in the world that could fight that kind of lifestyle off..

Too bad they're getting rid of the bar cars, though....sounds like a great way to chase off a crappy day at the office if you are commuting out to the burbs. I had no idea this existed.

[reppin_the_847]

You could get hit with a municipal ordinance violation ticket in theory if you were caught (which you'd either have to pay off, or contest in an administrative hearing). In any case, I'm sure many people get away with it as long as they are discrete about it. The key is not to be belligerent and pissing other people off (and not to get caught by cops or a CTA employee with an agenda).

Originally Posted by via chicago

The ironic thing is theres really no one to stop you from doing it on the L.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by cathy2

Oh yes! And you used to be able to smoke in them back in the 1980's.Total haze...

I think you could still smoke on the Metra and for sure the South Shore until the mid-late 90's even.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by cathy2

Oh yes! And you used to be able to smoke in them back in the 1980's. Total haze.

At Union Station ask for a martini in a "to-go" cup, and they'll give you a cocktail in a styro-foam coffee cup with a lid and small straw. Nobody will even notice it or care.

Well there's no need to hide it on Metra. BYOB is still perfectly ok. The coffee cup, however, is probably just a teensy bit more spill-proof than a martini glass.

[At1WithNature]

well, i am going to take the Rock Island home even though it is out of my way so I can use the bar car one final time...

[BJT83]

Now they are getting rid of some bathrooms. I have no problem with this at all, most of those tiny bathrooms were so small that I could barely get in them anyway, and I'm not that big.

Metra cuts bathrooms to add seats :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Transportation (http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1131716,CST-NWS-metra28.article - broken link)