Heed THIS from SEPTA : No food or drink on the RR!! What!!!

"Etiquette", NO eating on trains??


The current weekly transpass features an obnoxious slob with a loud radio on the ticket.

On the back it writes, be courteous:
1- NO LOUD RADIOS
2- Take your trash with you
3- Do not eat or drink on the Train

*Keep the seat a clean space. *



Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is preposterous. Obviously, courtesy and cleanliness are going to need some more attention especially on buses and subways, but I'm sure the offenders who are obnoxious enough not to follow common courtesy, are NOT going to read the advice on a train ticket, let alone do something to change this behavior.

Also, while food and drink on a bus and subway are supposed to be prohibited (and this may not be enforced nearly enough), I did not think this rule applied to the regional rail system. On a long trip to Trenton or the Airport, you can believe I will bring a light lunch. I may even snack on a pretzel on the way into work. Not only do I find the implied railroad refreshments prohbition to be a little excessive, but I also didn't know such a policy even existed, and didn't think the emphasis of no food or drink on trains would even belong on a transpass. I guess the conductors, engineers, and/or service aides are getting tired of cleaning up after people who litter the trains. I do not like the approach. While clean cars would benefit everybody, I think that being able to snack on commuter trains is a distinct advantage over driving - and at the very least a coffeee, soda, or hotchocolate or bottled water from your neighborhood train station cafe is NOT a prvilege to be denied.

Pretzels and candy bars are one thing, but I have seen riders eat entire meals, such as ribs, mashed potatos and sauce, from a styrofoam box. It's pretty easy to envision the box slipping from a lap and spilling on the floor, creating a big mess.

I commuted daily from Glenside to Market East for many years and almost always had a coffee and sometimes even a bagel on my trip. I was never questioned by a conductor or anyone else. I agree, it is a distinct advantage over driving. However, not everyone is as neat and courteous as I tried to be, and I could see where cleaning up half full cups of hot coffee and half eaten bagels could be a hassle. There must be some middle ground somewhere......

SEPTA demonstrates that they believe the RRD to be a subway, with this new edict. Even NJT, Metro-North and other commuter RRs allow drinking alcoholic beverages on the train, never mind eating...

SEPTA enforce something? HA!

Just about everywhere I ride, there's always some slob that has to eat hot wings or some other pungent edible that the rest of us have to smell. Having a drink or snack is one thing, but a smorgasboard? And then they leave their trash behind. Nothing like sitting next to chicken bones or a empty McDonald's bag on a bus.

The latest thrill of course is that cell phones now play music. So aside from all the beeping the phones do, now you get to listen to someone elses's music.

About the only place I heard of these policies being enforced was on the Metro in D.C. where a 9 year old got arrested for eating French Fries on the train. A little too extreme. How about just giving warnings?

jfrey40535 wrote:About the only place I heard of these policies being enforced was on the Metro in D.C. where a 9 year old got arrested for eating French Fries on the train. A little too extreme. How about just giving warnings?

Well that incident was too extreme, but it was more than just the french fries, as I understand it: it was more a matter of deliberate and defiant disobeying of a police officer.

If you've got a five-year-old (like I do), you'll recognize the difference. Sometimes they more or less ask to be punished.

Matt Mitchell
(coffee on the train some mornings, beer in the afternoon once in a while)

The rush hour commuters are the clean and considerate ones. It is the off peak people on RRD that generally eat large meals and leave trash behind. I find it despicable. The same stuff happens on my Metro North trains as well, although Metro North does not have the rules that Septa apparently does. But maybe that is because MNRR is run like a Commuter Rail and not a bus/subway.

The rush hour commuters are the clean and considerate ones. It is the off peak people on RRD that generally eat large meals and leave trash behind. I find it despicable.

I know exactly what you mean. Its even worse on the weekends when transpasses have anywhere privlidges. Check out how clean the R5 from Doylestown is when it reaches Market East at 11:10pm or 12:10am.

While its probablly not possible to have someone constantly enforcing the worst offenders, it would be nice if say when the trains left Center City, the conductor made a announcement reminding passengers about the no eating policy, then at least if he/she saw a problem passenger, they could give them a sterner warning.

You guys should ride NJT, last time I was on the ACL, they made this announcement that made you think you were in a police state. Part of the announcement was about random ID checks (so if you don't have ID, does that mean you don't ride????), eating, drinking, smoking, and keeping the feet off the seats.

I disagree with SEPTA's condescending approach. The face on the transpass is not inaccurate, but who's going to be insulted enough to change their behavior?

The rule/suggestion itself is out of the blue. Of course you can eat on trains. Just be considerate. Unfortunately, the only types who will HEED this warning are the ones who would probably take care of their trash in the first place. Heck, I often take the trash off my seat if someone else put it there first, just so the next guy can have a good seat without begrudging me someone else's dirt. however, the announcement will more likely fall on deaf ears, leaving the train to be just as dirty - but less enjoyed by the mindful folk that wouldn't have trashed it in the first place.

People either will or they won't take care of public space. Sorry for sounding like it's a lost cause.


I can tell you that for me personally, watching Sesame street as a kid is the reason I clean up after other people as well as myself. call it paranoia, but they did a segment on how each one of us does make a difference, either positively or negatively. therefore, I go above and beyond. I recycle plastic even though our city makes it less than convenient to do so. those three bag fulls of plastic I haul down to the center once a month --- multiply that by our city's population. that's the waste most companies and citizens are causing. but i've digressed, my point is like I said that some people will never take care of the transit system, and the rest of us shouldn't have faux restrictions that will do nothing to help the trash situation, just make us feel guilty for eating.

I also deplore the chirper cell phones - nextels can be set to a setting other than speakerphone, but they make it the default because people like to look important and classless at the same time. Nextel's laughing all the way to the bank with their ridiculous 2-way feature that benefits no one but their own phone sales. This is a "free country" but that means I'm also free to sit on a bus/train in peace.

SEPTA itself contributes to the problem in a couple of ways: first, there are no trash receptacles on the train, making it harder for passengers to do the right thing and try to keep the train neat; and second, the trash left by employees (unless someone wants to convince me it's passengers leaving bulletin orders and time slips on the floor).

I'm wondering if by 'trains', if SEPTA is referring to the Subway lines. I haven't heard anything about prohibiting employees and/or passengers from eating on the RRD equipment. SEPTA wouldn't have the stones to do it. Imagine telling those folks on the mainline they couldn't eat on the train in the morning. LOL!!! If it was on a weekly transpass, as opposed to a RRD trailpass, I'm sure that SEPTA is referring to the BSL and MFL.

Yeah, until I see something official that applies to the Regional Rail Division, I'm assuming the transpass notice only applies to the subway and el.

And you would expect more than a few of SEPTA's rent-paying station tenants to raise a ruckus if the rules were to be changed.

Matt Mitchell
(patron of Elcy's Coffeehouse)

whovian wrote:I'm wondering if by 'trains', if SEPTA is referring to the Subway lines. I haven't heard anything about prohibiting employees and/or passengers from eating on the RRD equipment. SEPTA wouldn't have the stones to do it. Imagine telling those folks on the mainline they couldn't eat on the train in the morning. LOL!!! If it was on a weekly transpass, as opposed to a RRD trailpass, I'm sure that SEPTA is referring to the BSL and MFL.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw the original posting and subsequent chest beating - it's a Transpass, so most likely it was meant to apply to the Subway-Elevated Division.

Can anyone take a look at a current Trailpass and tell us if the same thing is printed there?

If so, then the only explanation I can think of is laziness (i.e. using the same template for Transpass and Trailpass); there is no prohibition on food and drink on the RRD, as far as I know.

The trailpass has the same captions on it: Keep the seats neat, and don't forget your personal belongings. The rules on trains should be the same rules on the buses and subways: No eating, drinking, smoking. Unfortunately Philadelphians are slobs. Enforce the rules already!