For anyone who has ever rode on the Metro-North (or similarly designed railroad), they’ve probably run across the Bar Car. For those that haven’t, the Bar Car is a segment of the train in which the standard row seats have been removed in place of a huge metal bar that spans the entire middle of the segment and two uncomfortable circles of seats. The problem with the Bar Car is never once have I seen a bartender in them, and even worse is that they send these cars out into the field IN THE MORNING TIME! Come on now, even the hardest of core drinkers resist at 8am… and those that don’t certainly aren’t sitting on a train headed for NYC.
My stop is the second pickup in the morning, and with a bar car as the first car, it meant all of the usual riders from both front cars were packed into the 2nd car because no one wants to sit in the Bar Car. So instead of getting a nice aisle seat like I do every morning, I was forced to sit in a middle of a 3-seater. The burly guy to my left kept bumping his elbow into me as he was noodling with an Excel document on his laptop, while the guy to my right was trying to take up extra leg room as he was reading a miniature Bible. I suppose I could have stood, but that 30 minutes in the morning is part of my sleep regiment, so it’s necessary to sit. Okay, I’m done venting. Memo to Metro-North— stop using the Bar Cars!