Second Ave. Sagas

Metro-North set to expand Quiet Calmmute program

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

,

Quiet Calmmute, Metro-North’s punny quiet commute program, is coming soon to a peak-hour train near you. Beginning April 2, all inbound AM and outbound PM peak trains on the Hudson, Harlem & New Haven Lines will feature one quiet car. For AM rains inbound to Grand Central, the last car will be a designated quiet car, and for PM trains outbound from Manhattan, the first car will be the serene one. For those violating the rules, conductors will pass out polite “reminder” cars.

According to Metro-North’s own surveys, a whopping 83 percent of passengers said they support the quiet cars. “Quiet cars are a hit,” Metro-North President Howard Permut said to LoHud.com. “With very few exceptions, people have quickly adapted to the new etiquette.”

While the quiet car is a concept that won’t see the light of day in the subway, I am particularly enamored with one aspect of the program. Among the things commuters in the quiet cars must do are: (1) disabling the sound features on electronic devices; and (2) using headphones at a volume that cannot be heard by fellow passengers. These are basic concepts in mass transit etiquette that are, more frequently than not, forgotten by the straphanging public in the subways.

Comments

9 responses to “Metro-North set to expand Quiet Calmmute program”

  1. SEAN

    Shhhh. Be werry quiet, I’m hunting wabbits. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    Reply
  2. Tsuyoshi

    I agree that it would probably be impossible to implement quiet cars on the subway. But I wonder if something else can be done.

    The problem with people playing music on headphones that other people can hear is not so much the volume, but the quality of the headphones. On decent headphones, you can raise the volume to ear-splitting levels, but still without anyone else hearing a peep. So I think the real problem here is leaky headphones.

    For example, you might notice that the “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones have become very popular lately. Despite having, in my opinion, rather poor audio quality, they do have the advantage of not being leaky. I doubt people using Beats headphones have the volume any quieter than other people, but I don’t really hear anything from them.

    Perhaps New York City could ban the sale of leaky headphones. If we could ban trans fats, then I think banning leaky headphones could also be effective.

    This would not, of course, stop people from playing music without headphones, which is also very common. Or for that matter, panhandling musicians. Those problems require more money for police.

    Reply
    1. pea-jay

      Those Beats also do a pretty decent job keeping outside noise from leaking in as well. I rarely listen to music on the train though. I like to be aware of my surroundings and generally don’t mind if that includes occasional conversation with fellow non-crazy straphangers.

      Reply
  3. Robert

    What about LIRR?

    Reply
    1. DingDong

      Last I heard, they tried implementing a quiet-car program on the LIRR but the Mayor of Floral Park protested on the grounds that this mega-project would interfere with centuries of tradition and threaten to disturb the passing melodies that are an important part of this historic village’s bucolic lifestyle.

      Reply
      1. Terratalk

        Oh for Pete’s sake … “passing melodies that are an important part of this historic village’s bucolic lifestyle”? All the “external” passing melodies you hear from outside as a train passenger is the train pulling into the station and the train pulling out. I would rather have the quiet car protection from the “internal” passing melodies from my fellow passengers.

        Reply
        1. Matthias

          In case you didn’t pick up on it, that post was dripping with sarcasm.

          Reply
    2. petey

      the far rockaway branch has a quiet car:
      http://www.longislandpress.com…..ay-branch/
      oh, oh god, how i wish they’d expand it to all lines.

      Reply
  4. SEAN

    It’s hard to replicate Elmer Fud in text. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh boy wabbit twacks, OK wabbit I know you are there, I’ll give you 10-seconds to come out or I’ll bwast you out! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, fires gun

    Reply

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