Metro-North gives quiet cars a try

Last month MTA Metro-North Railroad (NY) joined NJ TRANSIT to launch First In, Last Out, a program to designate quiet cars on commuter rail trains serving Hoboken station. If that experiment works out, Metro-North will begin a quiet car trial on the New Haven, Harlem, and Hudson lines. While quiet car programs tend to be popular with commuters, some have questioned the rationale for designating the first car for hushed converations. Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, suggested choosing a middle car for the program to avoid setting up conflicts between commuters seeking quiet and those choosing to sit near the front of the train so they can alight quickly. “There are a lot of people who need to be productive in their time on the train, either texting or answering phone calls, which would be made difficult by a quiet car,” he told the Stamford Advocate. “If they do proper signage and have a consistency of where they put those cars it will work.” Link to full story in Stamford Advocate.

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