Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Cold Beer on the Commuter Rail!

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First off, let’s stipulate there will be a two beer limit and everyone gets carded.  The Long Island RR commuter system sells cold beer to commuters for the ride home from the city.  With over one million people riding the Massachusetts commuter rail daily, at $4/pop and only 5% of the riders buying one beer/wine on any given evening, we could generate at least $48 million yearly in new revenue for the MBTA.  Imagine, instead of cursing Deval on our ride home, we could toast him.  It’d give a whole new meaning to the term “T Party.”  What deficit??

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    • I only assume that 5 out of every 100 riders would want to buy a beer/wine on the outbound commute.  The price of beer at $4/pop? Well, I made that one up.  But I’d gladly pay that amount for a cold one on the way home and I’m sure others would too.

  2. The MBTA isn’t going to get that whole $4, because they’re not going to get into the business of hiring bartenders: it means getting some kind of snack cars on all the commuter rail trains, and that’s probably a pretty significant expense; then going through bidding for concession operators unless there’s a standing contract that would cover this, and I suspect the Legislature would need to create some new kind of special liquor license for this.  Then the T gets a percentage of what the concession operator takes in, or just gets an annual fee for the concession license, or something.  So I’m a bit dubious about the $48m/yr figure.  Of course, I’m also dubious about the $4 figure.  I’d expect at least $5, more likely $5.50-6 for domestic macros, $7.50ish for (if they have them at all) imports or micros.

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    p>I’m actually not against this idea at all.  On the grounds that I like beer, and on the grounds that these kinds of amenities just feel more civilized, and on the grounds that it’d probably increase ridership, I think it’s a very good idea, in fact.  Anything that chips away at the Puritanical, life-shouldn’t-be-fun ethos.  Make riding the train more pleasant, and more people will ride the train!  I just don’t think it’ll generate that kind of money.

    • so increase the revenue estimates 20%.

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      p>and i think the 1 beer for 5% of the ridership is conservative, too.

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      p>how about a cart on the platform at the station as passengers board? would cut the number of people hired by a lot. and no snack cars on all trains.

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      p>auction the vending license. or sell it the same way you do vendor space in the stations.

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      p>i agree that the money is a benefit, but not the only one. people would be more comfortable and happy. imagine looking forward to the train ride home? imagine large groups of people raising a toast on the friday afternoon train?

      • I doubt a vendor would charge that little anyway.  When was the last time you got a beer on an airplane or at Fenway?  Actually, my guesses were probably wrong – a vendor running a snack-car or platform-side concession stand is going to expect poor (if any) tipping, so they’re going to try to set prices so that change will be enough of a hassle to maximize the chance customers will just round up to the nearest buck.  Is that $6.33?  $6.49?  I’m not sure, but I’ll bet there are firms out there that have the numbers on that.

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        p>I do still agree with your last point, though.  The money’s not necessarily the primary benefit here: getting more folks on the trains instead of the roads is.  (Hell, I think high-quality, comfortable, beer-and-wifi-providing train service is a social good worth having even if it costs lots of money.)

    • Actually, you’re probably right.  No doubt, there would have to be three months of public meetings to ensure the proper level of “civic engagement,” followed by a six-month, $7 million environmental impact study to analyze the impact of creating more aluminum can waste.  Then the EIS would get challenged in federal court by busy-bodies like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Train-Riding?) who will claim that the EIS did not consider the noise pollution along the train route from people opening the cans.

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      p>After nine months of litigation, the judge would finally get around to issuing a summary judgment order in favor of the T.  Then the contract would get put out for bid.  But, oh wait, before anything could happen, the process would be injoined by the Carmens Union as a Pacheco Act violation.  They would demand that we hire their members to sell cans of Miller Lite on the platforms.  They’d want minimum shifts of eight hours (so they’d be (not) selling beer at 10am), the standard MBTA wage schedule, and the right to retire with a pension after 23 years.  The MBTA will initially say no, but they will then be reversed by some union-selected arbitrator.

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      p>After 24 months of delay, I will finally be able to buy a can of beer for the train ride home.  But now, the MBTA will be losing money on beer sales because of the feather-bedding.  However, they dare not cancel the program now, because it would mean getting rid of someone’s job.  So they will keep subsidizing the beer sales and, to pay for that, raise fares and cancel night service.

  3. Or at least it used to be.  I’ll occasionally take it in the summer months and there is really nothing better than sitting on the deck with the sun shining down on you and a cold beer in your hand.

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    p>Less exciting but also relevant, they serve coffee and donuts in the morning.

  4. Senator Murray and others have promised that there will be no toll hikes. Why aren’t they doing the same for our state’s public transportation?

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    p>I’m firmly against any toll hikes – I’d like to get rid of tolls, period. But I’m equally against any hikes to the T. The legislature has got to step it up and provide real debt relief to the T, debt which they forced on the T’s books because of the Big Dig.  

    • this commment was in reply to david’s little blurb at the top. In terms of beer on the train… why not? I would limit it to 2, though. A lot of these people will be driving when they get off…

  5. You’ve had too many beahs.

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    p>According to Fox News, LIRR generates $350,000 from booze sales on trains.

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    p>Now it’s true that they don’t sell on every train, and that number does not appear to incorporate platform sales.  But LIRR ridership is 86 million a year; that’s about twice MBTA commuter rail ridership.

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    p>So, $48 million?  Methinks you’ll be in the range of $0.48 million to $4.8 million.  Now, how much is lost when a single beer drinker falls onto the tracks?

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    p>I’m not arguing against booze sales on the commuter rail; I can see arguments either way.  However, this idea that it’d generate more than petty cash is dead wrong methinks.

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