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Food Fight: Outlaw Food On The Subway, Say Pols
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 27, 2012
Modified Jan 27, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 27, 2012
Modified Jan 27, 2012
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We all knew the good times weren't going to last—you can only have so many subway spaghetti spats before someone gets angel hair all over their face. So a day of reckoning may now be upon us: a group of State Senators have proposed a new bill to outright ban eating food on the subway. And you can blame this one on the rats.
You can read the whole bill here. Sponsored by Senator Bill Perkins and supported by Senators Adriano Espaillat, Shirley Huntley and Suzi Oppenheimer, the bill would prohibit eating on any subway, station or platform part of NYC Transit to try to "mitigate the growing rat infestation in the NYC subway system." We know Station Rat won't react very kindly to that characterization—but does anyone think this bill would really stop rats from running all over our faces? Especially now that they have a shot at immortality as part of an anti-beauty contest?
Don't be mistaken: this is an issue which people really care about. The area where the bill might really be useful is in punishing humans who'd dare flaunt the basic tenants of subway etiquette—the bill would carry a fine of up to $250 for those caught eating underground. An MTA spokesperson previously told us that although food is not prohibited on the subway, it is discouraged; in addition, all open beverages are illegal, from coffee to Courvoisier. For what it's worth, our own very scientific survey found that most people are in favor of making eating on the subway illegal, if only to avoid scuffles like the classic one below:
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rat
rats
subway
subway eating
subway etiquette
subway fighting
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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