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LETTERS FROM LIRR RIDERS

On Saturday, July 8, 2006, a woman applies her makeup, a LIRR conductor eats a sandwich and a man's surfboard fills the aisle minutes before a Long Island Railroad train leaves from Long Beach to the Jamaica station. (Newsday / Julia Gaines)

LETTERS FROM LIRR RIDERS

As part of its coverage of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter's Council survey of bad behavior on the trains, Newsday is asking readers to send in stories of behavior they could do without. Here are samples:

There is a woman who rides the Ronkonkoma train every morning, the 6:23 a.m. out of Deer Park. Every morning at Jamaica a man gets on the train and they kiss for the rest of the ride. What's more, he wears a wedding ring; she doesn't. Anonymous

I think the worst offenders are the ones who put their feet on the facing seats, even in snowy or rainy weather. What amazes me is that, in addition to being first-class slobs, they are also quite stupid, as evidenced by the fact that they do not seem to realize (or care?) that they are sitting in someone else's dirt from the previous run! Stan

Just when I thought I had seen it all, yesterday I sat across from a woman plucking her eyebrows on the train. Eric, East Williston

Those of us who are the victims of the bad behavior deserve to have "quiet cars." Quiet cars are for people who are not interested in listening to cell phone calls that range from how bad someone's credit is to breaking up with your girlfriend (and dropping the f-bomb every fifth word), to your yeast infection to whether you took a $20 or a $10 out of your wife's wallet that morning. No one cares! And to the guy who was literally crying his eyes out while telling a buddy he found out his girlfriend cheated on him (at her sister's wedding in the Bahamas with one of the groomsmen), no one felt bad for you, you sounded like a complete jerk. Ann-Marie

To contribute your stories, send e-mail to reporter Samuel Bruchey at samuel.bruchey@ newsday.com Have I got a story for you. You hear the announcements all the time to keep your feet off the seats. I take the 6:52 train out of Merrick. When I get on that train there is this guy who has his feet on the seat across from him. This guy wears construction boots, so they leave a mess on the seat. Even when it rains and snows, this guy has his feet on the seat. So clearly this guy is in another world because he thinks he his better then any one else.

That is just half the story. When the conductors come around to check the tickets, they DO NOT SAY A WORD TO THIS GUY. No matter who the conductor is. They all just walk right past this guy without saying a word. As we are leaving the train, we hear the announcement that you are supposed to keep your feet off the seats. What a joke. The LIRR workers do not even enforce their own rules. All the people who sit around this guy sit in wonder why the conductor does not tell this guy to keep his feet off the seats. Thank you, John

My favorite is the clipping or polishing of nails. The WORST had to be the cell phone chats- and yes my iPod is cranked up- I refuse to listen to someone sitting between myself and another person talking about their personal life!! Tarah Port Washington

I used to take the 6:22am out of Deer Park. When I was 7 months pregnant, I had and aisle seat of a row of 3 seats on one of the new trains. Those seats are very narrow to begin with so you can imagine just how being 7 months pregnant, I barely fit in the seat. A rather husky tall Russian woman got on at the Bethpage stop. She came right to me and said "I sit there!" Pointing to the empty middle seat. I struggled to get up and let her sit and then when I sat down, I could no longer fit in my aisle seat. I then got up again, I told the woman that I couldn't sit there anymore because there was no room. She asked me "why not?" and I said "If you had not already noticed, I am 7 months pregnant" She said "oh, ok" and then preceded to SLIDE OVER IN THE THE AISLE SEAT THAT I HAD BEEN OCCUPYING!!!" I was so shocked that I was completely speechless. No else on the train said a word (there were lots of people that witnessed this) and not one person offered me a seat. I then had to move to another car and STAND UNTIL I GOT TO JAMAICA!!! Maureen former Deer Park rider

I thought I was the only one who kept track of all the nasty habits of people who ride the LIRR. My biggest pet peev is the coffee cup, it get spilled and then ruins people's belongings. I have actually turned to someone who I saw put the coffee cup on the ground and ask them if it was their cup. They lie to may face and say No. I usually pick it up and throw it out and state how rude it is for people to leave it there. Colleen Deer Park

Here's something that doesn't get nearly the attention it should: People who bring young children on the train and then let them run wild. There is woman who rides one of my evening trains to Great Neck who has a small boy whom she allows to jump up and down on the seats carrying on, and another couple on the same train (in the same car!) who let their two kids carry on at the top of their lungs. The volume level is so bad that, after neither music (at a reasonable decibel level) nor earplugs blocked the cacophony, I finally gave in and began either riding in another car or taking a different train to avoid them. When I said something to the father of the two children, the response was a snide "Do you have children?" I don't but my sister is a single mother who's son would never think to behave like that in public, because he's been taught with patience and firmness what constitutes appropriate behavior. The problem of the child jumping on the seats is, in fact, a far more serious problem. Not only is he an irritant to those around him, but, if the train stops short, he will either slam into the seat in front of him or become a tiny missile - a danger to both himself and other passengers. And, of course, if he is hurt, you can bet there will be a lawsuit over the railroad's failure to protect the child from the consequences of his actions and his mother's negligence.

It used to be that conductors had responsibility for reining in this kind of problem. Now, however, low staffing, apathy, and fear of retribution of some kind seems to keep conductors from intervening in any form of bad behavior on the trains - be it loud cell phone conversations or out-of-control kids. Conductors need to be given both the authority and the responsibility for maintaining some order on the train. There need to be clear consequences - fines - established for the violations. And, there need to be MTA police on trains on a random basis - both uniformed and plainclothes -to back them up. I know that there is a finite (undoubtedly woefully low) number of MTA police available, but if people don't know when they'll be on the train, and if they see enforcement taking place, they might respond by cleaning up their act (in some cases, literally). Suzanne Great Neck

It's bad enough that adults can't pick up after themselves (imagine what filth they live in if they're that inconsiderate on a train), but I believe a major part of the lack of respect is the fact that these courtesy rules are NOT BEING ENFORCED. Oh, if I had a nickel for every time a conductor walked by a passenger whose feet were on the seat and NEVER SAID A WORD! Wake up LIRR!!! Tell your conductors to open they're mouths!! And while they're at it, tell them to speak those announcements like they actually believe in them. Most of the time they sound so rote. This morning's announcement was spoken so fast I could barely understand it. Some of these guys sound like they're asleep!

I have to say, the #1 problem I have with the LIRR is the riders with cell phones. From Penn Station to Bellmore, no matter what car I sit in (because daily commuters are typically sitting in the same car daily), I always manage to get stuck with the rudest of all people. It's gotten way out of hand. The constant ringing of cell phones. The very loud, one sided conversations that reach the opposite ends of the car. These people pass the commute time by constantly calling everyone in their phone lists. As soon as the call is over, another is being made. For 45 minutes each way, every day, that's all I ever hear. This year I have started to wear ear plugs. That helps some, but the conversations are so loud, they still manage to be heard. If I can still hear a cell phone conversation through ear plugs, then something is very wrong with these people. I have asked people kindly to keep it down, they ignore your requests. I have even raised my voice to people, something I normally never do.

They in return get very vocal, nasty & defensive. I'm afraid that its going to take a tragedy to occur before people start learning how to act more civilized on a public train. I think the LIRR is poor in this campaign. The train announcer reads through his script fast when the trains begin to leave Penn Station, but it just seems to go through peoples ears. I would recommend the LIRR stop wasting their time putting flyers on the seats. People just throw them aside onto the floor anyway.

Instead, create stickers to put on the backs of every seat head rest, with courtesy reminders requesting riders to not use cell phones in the seats, but in the train car vestibules. Heck, Ill even pay extra money monthly to ride in a quiet car (no cell phones permitted) if it came down to it. I may even look into buying a cell phone jammer if this continues to get worse. Cell phones are ruining the morals of our society. Chuck N. Bellmore

Interesting timing. I witnessed an incident just yesterday that I was thinking of sending in to the Letters column. I had decided not to, but then I saw today's article so I decided to send it to you.

Morning trains in the Babylon line were running late yesterday so the train I was on was more crowded than usual. At Bellmore a man got on and went to sit in one of the double facing seats right by the door (it was one of the new cars). A lone woman, already seated there, told him that she was saving the seats for friends, who happened to be just behind him (2 women and a small boy about 5). The man started grumbling about people shouldn't be saving seats, but he started to move on. The woman, however, didn't seem to want to let it go and started shouting at him. Of course this caused him to shout back and which point she escalated it and started to get vulgar. After a few moments of shouting it died down and the man moved into the next car.

The real point of this story was when, after the man had left, the little boy started parroting what the woman had said, for example; "the ____ (a word referring to Hades) you say". While the man was rude and wrong (saving seats happens all the time), the woman was crude and overreacting. Worse, she set a very bad example for the little boy.