The Bastards- Last Days of the Bar Cars on the Metra

The bastards! Metra has recently announced that they will be phasing out their bar cars over the next two years. I've been riding in the bar car on the way home from work for 11 years. I have friends that I met solely because of drinking in the bar car. In fact, I have friends that I only see in the bar car. I've seen and blogged about more funny things than I can count on the bar car. What the hell am I going to do now? Ride with the rest of the quiet, non-drinking, book reading, anti-social losers, I'm not so sure. I may need to start driving. See already this is a bad idea.

The ambience (yeah ambience fuckers) of the bar car is one of the things that really draws me to the train. Sure I say that it's relaxing and I get work done on the train, and I do in the morning. But most afternoons, I enjoy having a delicious beverage and doing some people watching. All the freaks congregate in the bar car.

Their flawed reasoning for the phase out is supposedly due to the fact that they want to maximize ridership. I don't know about anyone else but I can never find a seat in the bar car. In fact, I find those cars around the bar more full than other on the train. It's just complete bullshit. Metra is simply bowing to the insurance companies and the crap that anti-alcohol groups are serving up.

Whether they realize it or not, the end result of the the elimination will do more harm than good. First to the other riders, rather than have these freaks congregated in one area on the train, they will now be dispersed throughout the train. Hey, quiet reader, you will now be subject to Kermit's insane ramblings and his disgusting offer to eat from his bag of chips. I sure envy you. Again, to the other riders, since Metra is not banning the drinking of alcohol on trains just the bar cars, these people will now be drinking amongst you. That should be fun. To the anti-alcohol folks and the insurance companies. Now instead of a bartender monitoring how many drinks a rider has had, the riders will be monitoring themselves. The end result will be more on train accidents and increased drunk driving. Again, that sounds like win win for this whole situation.

Well fellow bar car comrades, we have up to two years. Let's get cracking. Here's what I think we need to do. First, complain to Metra about the phasing out of the bar cars. It's bullshit, we all know it, let's tell them about it. Second step, buy your drinks and drink them in the bar car. Decreased revenues is one of the reasons for the phase out. If the bar cars' profits increase, one of their reasons goes away. Three, be responsible about your drinking. While this one should be obvious, sometimes it isn't. Know your limits and don't drink and drive drunk. And last, be friendly encourage people to sit in the bar car. Don't be drunk and surly like you usually are, build the crowd in the bar car. For the rest of you riding the rails, complain loudly too. Remember, in the not too distant future, we'll all be sitting and drinking with you.

If any of you have any other ideas of how to stem the tide, let me know. I will now end the editorial portion of my blog for today.