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  • Metro OKs food sales, but you still cannot eat on trains

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1489544  by davinp
 
Don't bite into that sandwich just yet. You still can't eat or drink on Metro trains

The transit agency's board voted Thursday to allow commercial vendors in and around stations. The plan is designed to give Metro a new revenue source.

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 #1489548  by STrRedWolf
 
I can see this working out in very limited cases:

At stations w/parking, outside city limits: A vendor will sell packaged food that must be heated up -- like TV dinners, ready-to-cook family dinners, ready-to-bake pizzas, whatnot. Stuff that you don't take on the subway, because you've just gotten off the subway and face having to *cook*. But why not have a small pot roast, packaged and chilled, ready to cook so all you do is heat up the oven, slip it in, wait 30 minutes, dinner?

The same goes for DVD rental and video game rental. You're going home for the weekend, so why not pick something up and return it on the way back in? RedBox or DVD Express!

Lotto tickets... is a mixed bag. I see them more effective on the outskirts than in the city (inside the beltway). Compare New Carrolton to Union Station -- I think New Carrolton has it's MD Lotto vendor there, while Union Station took out all theirs via attrition. New Carrolton can use a (newer) MD Lottery ticket machine (LTM).

At inside the beltway stations:

I can see the Photo booths here, as you're outside Verizon Center after that big major concert with your friends, you're slightly drunk, and you can't hold your phone worth a damn. Pile into a booth, get a few shots!

Everywhere:

Health & Beauty, Electronics (Best Buy Express), and charging stations or charger rental (a la Fuel-Rod at airports) all belong here, for numerous reasons. The overlap of customer types (tourists, family folk, businessmen, etc) would permit a lot of sales.

The questionable one is: Package/mail pickup/delivery lockers. Post office, maybe, but depends on the hours set. Amazon locker? I can see it on the outer edges but not inside the beltway.