I tend to agree that the “federal crime” part is BS. On long-distance Amtrak trains, passengers are certainly permitted to consume their own (non-Amtrak) alcohol in their sleeping compartments. Amtrak just wants to ensure that the coach passengers buy booze from the club car rather than bringing their own, although it’s a trivially-easy restriction to circumvent…
I’ve traveled extensively on public transportation in the US, and the only service that I can recall that allows passengers to consume their own alcoholic beverages openly is California’s Caltrain, the commuter rail line that runs between San Francisco and San Jose (some trains also go further south to Gilroy). Here is Caltrain’s “Ban on Alcohol After Special Events”:
In my experience, the only trains in which this ban was enforced were “Ballpark Specials” leaving San Francisco after a Giants game (the SF Caltrain terminus is only 2 blocks from AT&T Park). Despite what the linked page says, I’ve taken regularly-scheduled trains south from SF after a ballgame has finished (and after 9pm), and open consumption of alcohol was tolerated. However, the special trains arranged for baseball supporters – that departed at around the same time – had conductors who would eject passengers from those trains if the latter were caught drinking alcohol.
[The San Francisco Caltrain terminus at 4th & King Streets has a foodstand that sells beer by the bottle. It’s illegal to drink it in the station, but it does killer business selling to commuters on their way home. I’ve been on evening-commute trains in which one car was unofficially viewed as “party central” with passenger-supplied alcohol shared freely amongst the regulars, with open support from the train’s conductors.]
Neither Caltrain nor ACE have any kind of food or beverage service on board the trains, but they both employ conductors who are trained to deal with any passenger problems, whether alcohol-related or not.
But what purview do the Feds have over public buses?
I think we’re confusing buses like Greyhounds (which cross state lines) with a municipal bus system. I can’t think of a reason why the feds would prohibit alcoholic drinks on a public bus. But usually buses say, “No food or drinks.” So it’s not just alcohol–it’s coffee, sodas, etc. I also would like to know what law we’re talking about.
I commute on Metro-North Railroad, into NYC. You are allowed to consume alcohol on the trains. You can buy beers in local delies, and drink freely on the train, no brown baggs needed. At Grand Centeral they even have beer carts on the platforms, operated by Metro-North; they also sell hard liquer. LIRR is the same. But alcohol consumption on the subway is prohibited. All are run buy the Mertopolitan Transportation Authority(MTA). I am with Alex on this one. The subway and buses have to many problems with bums, skells, and weirdo’s; alcoholic beverages = too many problems. Commuter trains, not as many problems; so drink up, they even sell it to you!
Most Metra trains in the Chicago area have a booze car where you can buy drinks during the trip. It’s basically like being in a huge moving bar on the train.
I’m sorry, but I don’t accept that as a cite. Until you can point to the relevant provision in the United States Code, I will continue to believe that there is no federal law concerning alcohol consumption on buses.
Good point. Perhaps the Greyhound company is quoting Federal law against interstate transportation of alcohol as a ban against drinking aboard their buses.
I don’t think that it can be that simple. We already know that one can openly drink alcohol on Amtrak while crossing a state line. Okay, Amtrak is quasi-federal, so perhaps it’s a special case. However, we also know – thanks to Melkor28’s post above – that alcohol is also allowed (whether purchased on-board or elsewhere) on Metro-North trains, including the New Haven line which crosses between NY and CT. Cite here (ignore misleading headline!) that the bar cars work on the CT portion as well as the NY portion of the route. Thus, a non-federally-run railroad is openly allowing alcohol consumption across state lines.
So, if there is a Federal prohibition for buses, it’s got to be a lot more specific than a vague “interstate transportation of alcohol” deal, because it would need to differentiate explicitly between buses and trains. I’m with Freddy the Pig in requesting a Federal “cite!” that applies to buses but exempts trains.
I emailed Greyhound but the answer, if any, will probably take longer than the “Why doesn’t Walgreens sell…” question.
Come to think of it, the bus driver says “Federal Regulations prohibit…” not "law"so the United States Code wouldn’t be the source. Could be an ICC “law”. (Darn, I missed a perfectly good snarkly “Asleep since the Roosevelt administration” comment.