New NYC transit etiquette rules in effect today

The only major grievance I have when it comes to subway etiquette -- and I have no idea how one would enforce the prevention of this (y'know, outside of immediate pistol-whippings) -- are people who barge and elbow there way into a subway car first before letting passengers off. There's no excuse for this, and it sends me into fucking orbit.

Do not move between subway cars - even if the train is stopped

Do not occupy more than one seat on subways or buses by putting up your feet or spreading your legs

Don't place bags on an empty seat

as for not occupying more than one seat -- maybe if the width of the seats weren't so skimpy, then they wouldn't have such problems.

Also:

the people opening/closing umbrellas taking up the whole fucking staircase

xpost, most of these things don't seem to be actual problems when people are actually doing them. Who cares if someone puts their bag next to them on a 1 am train?

that said, there's no excuse for the MTA's consistently shitty management.

I like the smoking one best. I have actually seen one guy light up a cigarette on a crowded rush-hour 2 train -- it was the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed. Everyone just stared and said nothing. I'm not sure anyone would even have said anything, except there was this guy with his eight-year-old daughter, who really politely told the smoker he couldn't do that -- and then somehow noticed some kind of hospital tag on the guy's wrist and started asking if the dude had just been released from XXX place. Apparently the father was some kind of mental health professional; he sorted the whole thing out pretty effectively.

People who bring bikes on during rush hours have a special place in hell.

Regarding bikes on the subway, I can't help wanting to say obnoxious things like, "a real man would ride their bike to their destination" or some such.

Regarding strollers, lemme just say that the parents pushing those strollers, nine time out of ten, aren't any happier about being in a subway with a child in a stroller any more than you are. But, sometimes, that's just the way it's gotta be. Ya can't always get cabs.

You know what's coming.

Dad forgets to duck when entering the train. Toddler's face/head smacks against top of train above door. Nice going, Dad!

Usually I do this because it is too crowded to remove by the time it becomes an issue!

xpost, ouch :((((

bikes on subways and the PATH at ANY hour = DUD. more so b/c the bike riders are douchebags more often than not.

Again, I am only acting.

2) Place between feet and straddle.

It's good for yr posture too.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold nearly 115,000 40-day holiday MetroCards - less than half of the 250,000 cards it had printed in anticipation of a strong demand for discounted rides.

The 40-day holiday fare cards are a centerpiece of the authority's holiday bonus program, which the authority's board approved in October as a way to reward riders. The discounts, which end in January, are estimated to cost $50 million, a fraction of the authority's estimated surplus of $1 billion this year.

The 40-day cards were sold from Nov. 17 to 29, and are valid from Nov. 23 to Jan. 2. The cards cost $76 - the regular price of a 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard - but could be bought only in cash at station booths because, officials said, the card-vending machines could not be reprogrammed to sell the cards.

And because the card could be bought only with cash, purchasers cannot recover the unused portion if the card is lost or stolen - as they can do with 30-day cards bought using a credit or debit card under a balance-protection program that started in October 2003.

The authority's Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a state-sanctioned advocacy group, opposed the discounts, and its executive director, Beverly L. Dolinsky, said she was not surprised that fewer cards were bought than expected.

"Many people today prefer to pay with credit or debit cards than with cash," Ms. Dolinsky said. "With all the holidays within this 40-day period, many people may have figured out that the best deal for them was just to stay with their regular card."

Yesterday, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, the chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Commissions, and Authorities, held a hearing on the authority's future during which he asserted that the fare discounts were illegal.

Mr. Brodsky told the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, that the discounts amounted to a change in the authority's official fare tariffs, which can only be altered after public hearings. "Ho ho ho, holiday pass, lovely, lovely," Mr. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester County, said sarcastically before his tone turned stern. "Illegal."

The legality of the fare discounts had been a delicate subject. The authority had maintained that the discounts did not require formal board approval or public hearings, because they did not represent a permanent fare change. Even so, its board went ahead and endorsed the discounts, by a 12 to 2 vote, on Oct. 27.

As a legal precedent, authority lawyers have cited discounts that were offered to suburban commuters in January 1996, after a snowstorm crippled service on the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road.

Other fare discounts remain in place through the rest of the month. For example, the base subway and bus fare, $2, is reduced by half on weekends through New Year's Day.

Also yesterday, the authority and the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, prepared for a sixth round of negotiations, scheduled for Wednesday, over a new three-year contract for 33,700 subway and bus workers.

Mr. Kalikow declined to discuss the negotiations. "The best way to conduct these is at the bargaining table," he said. Later, when asked to compare the status of this year's talks with the previous contract negotiations, in 2002, he said, "I'm not going to characterize the speed or the results."

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has maintained a neutral tone, said yesterday that he was "very concerned" about the possibility of a transit strike. The last two general transit strikes were in 1966 and 1980. He urged both sides to negotiate earnestly.

"I think that if the T.W.U. and the M.T.A. all work together and sit down and keep talking - I've always been a believer - you keep talking, you go in that room and you say we're not coming out until we come to an agreement," he said. "And everybody says, 'Oh, we can't come to an agreement.' If you stay there long enough, I believe you can."

Mike McIntire contributed reporting for this article.

both equally dud. in fairness, pedestrian entitlement can be just as dud if people expect oncoming traffic to stop for them while they jaywalk.

pedestrian entitlement can be just as dud if people expect oncoming traffic to stop for them while they jaywalk.

One thing that bugs me are cars that aren't forgiving of jaywalkers if there is an obvious, unavoidable traffic stopage ahead. What's the rush? You'll just have to wait!

Also, "Move ALL the way into the car." (I say this aloud on occasion.)

So yesterday I'm walking down Park Ave South, and there's this young-executive type in front of me, like fresh-out-of-college enough to look a little odd in his super-nice suit and big camel coat and expensive glasses. We get to a cross-street where the light has turned yellow, no cars are coming, and the walk signal is about to come on -- so he starts crossing. But there's a bike messenger coming, trying to blow through the yellow light. And what bike messenger does is he whistles, and then he yells, at young-exec dude: "Out of the way, FOUR-EYES."

Seriously! He said "FOUR-EYES!" I'm kinda still at a loss for how to interpret that. Was he like an unfrozen bike-messenger from 1952? Could a person actually be like that troglodytic as to still think of "four-eyes" as a functioning insult? Was it like an ironic retro-insult? Was he just a really big eight-year-old? "Four-eyes," man, I can't figure it out.

jon OTM -- a pet peeve of mine: those who hog the pole (i.e., by slowly encroaching on yer space).

woman getting pushed: "you best not push me again or i'll knock yr fucking head off."

woman pushing: grabs the hood of the other woman's coat and pulls her backwards down the stairs and starts pummelling and kicking her. other people jump in to pull her off but she FIGHTS THEM OFF TOO. it was insane. i was late for work so went on to the 4/5/6. five minutes later i hear over the intercom, "police please report to south l train track." they were STILL going at it!

i have also seen THREE women pass out on the subway or the platform in the last week. it's mass hysteria!!!!!