NJT Quiet Car

Wow... talk about a car with a higher than average quotient of loonies.  Within a week...

- One poor guy had a little bit of sniffles and guy next to him blurts out "for goodness sakes blow your f**king nose".  

- A young couple sat down and whispered at seat when the train was still boarding and doors wide open in Penn Station with 5 min before departure.  Guy walks up to them to tell them it's the quiet car.  This with the din of trains pullling out outside.

- A teenager coughs and lady next aisle over blurts out angrily "holy crap...!" 

Then typically there is such a great tension in the air but the power tripping absolute silence nutjobs probably savor that.

Hate those types.

That's why I avoid the quiet car. The regular cars during rush hour are quiet enough

I love the quiet car and will sometimes speak up (politely) if people are being egregiously loud, but the folks in your examples take it way too far.  It's the "quiet" car, not the "absolute silence" car.  Plus, I can't guarantee that I'm never guilty of audibly snoring there sometimes in the mornings....

I had a guy run up the aisle from his seat 1/2 a car away once to yell at me to be quiet as I softy asked people around me if they had a tissue to try to stop the blood that was pouring out of my nose into my white blouse. Self-proclaimed quiet car police. I'm sure they haven't got much other power in their lives so they seize this.

People are just way too stressed and high strung these days. It seems like anything can set someone off. A simple failure to yield on a highway can get you shot in the head. 

I take the NE Corridor as part of my sojourn. Quiet cars on NEC are louder than regular cars on the M&E. Yesterday, I had a guy sitting in front of me snoring quite loudly. A woman I know asked how I could stand it. I said, "You think that was loud? You should have heard my late husband." Funny to remember him so fondly for something that was a great source of contention.

Quiet car = Drama Car

One time I said hello to someone as I was getting on, and then from 1/2 car away a lady runs over to tell me this is the quiet car.  i told her I know and it is not the rude car.  People can say hi and then sit down.  

I avoid at all costs and find most other cars are quieter than the quiet car where people keep saying shhh.

I wear big headphones on the train so every car is the quiet car.

@mikescott:   

The quiet car rules are pretty clear. This is from the NJT web site: 

Quiet Commute Etiquette

• Refrain from cell phone use
• Disable sound feature on mobile devices and laptops
• Conduct conversations in subdued voices
• Maintain low headphone volume to avoid distracting other passengers.

Quiet Commute is an effort to balance the needs of those customers who wish to stay connected with those who want to relax or work in a quiet atmosphere without distractions. Customers riding in quiet cars are asked to refrain from cell phone use and disable the sound feature on mobile devices and laptop computers. Conversations should be conducted in subdued voices and headphones should be used at a volume that cannot be heard by other passengers.

===

So yes, speaking quietly is allowed. 

many of these people have an actual medical condition. Best to leave the quiet car to these folks and sit with people who aren't ill:

Going Crazy From Annoying Sounds Is An Actual Medical Condition

I've tried to sit in the quiet car but I find it stressful because of other passengers  getting harassed by the quiet car police. I avoid it. I find the other cars are quiet enough. 

There's written rules, and then there's the REAL quiet car rules. The only noise permitted in there is berating other passengers. Best avoided altogether!

tom said:

The quiet car rules are pretty clear. This is from the NJT web site: 

Quiet Commute Etiquette

• Refrain from cell phone use
• Disable sound feature on mobile devices and laptops
• Conduct conversations in subdued voices
• Maintain low headphone volume to avoid distracting other passengers.

Quiet Commute is an effort to balance the needs of those customers who wish to stay connected with those who want to relax or work in a quiet atmosphere without distractions. Customers riding in quiet cars are asked to refrain from cell phone use and disable the sound feature on mobile devices and laptop computers. Conversations should be conducted in subdued voices and headphones should be used at a volume that cannot be heard by other passengers.

===

So yes, speaking quietly is allowed. 

Quiet cars started on long distance trains.  I can understand that logic.  They are not needed on commuter trains where the average ride is under an hour.  

If someone wants total silence, then let them take a limo to work.  

What we need is a breakfast car on the way in and a bar car on the way home -- not a stinking quiet car.  

I love, love, LOVE the quiet car, which I think of as the STFU car. Take your chatter elsewhere!

FWIW I would not get pissed at anyone for sneezing, coughing, saying "bless you", asking for a tissue, etc. I'm also OK with someone answering their phone and saying they can't talk because they are in the quiet car. But there are definitely some overzealous quiet car police out there!

PurpleMonkeyDshwashr said:

 But there are definitely some overzealous quiet car police out there!

That's the entire issue right there

LIRR back in the day. The way to travel. LIRR still has bar carts on the platforms before the trains but, alas, thebar car disappeared a decade ago, maybe more

mikescott said:

What we need is a breakfast car on the way in and a bar car on the way home -- not a stinking quiet car.  

I'd imagine the "bar car," if one existed, would have other issues worthy of its own thread.

What if there were a "gym car," with treadmills and stationary bikes? Would people pay to be in it and work out for an hour on the way home?

So serious question... does the quiet period begin when the doors are open or when the train leaves?  When the train hasn't left the station there's all sorts of noise from the outside and people coming in.  If you want absolute silence invest in earplugs.

mikescott said:

What we need is a breakfast car on the way in and a bar car on the way home -- not a stinking quiet car.  

Lackawanna (in the day) had a bar car. They sold maybe 8 oz. beer bottles .. enough to get me to Millburn from Newark. Perfect end to a day at work.

yellowgato said:

So serious question... does the quiet period begin when the doors are open or when the train leaves?  When the train hasn't left the station there's all sorts of noise from the outside and people coming in.  If you want absolute silence invest in earplugs.

Or if you're not interested in quiet, go sit in another car.

Unwritten rule seems to be the latter. Noise/convo seems to be generally accepted before the train leaves,but not once the trip is underway.  

yellowgato said:

So serious question... does the quiet period begin when the doors are open or when the train leaves?  When the train hasn't left the station there's all sorts of noise from the outside and people coming in.  If you want absolute silence invest in earplugs.

I've definitely been chastised for speaking in a quiet car while it was boarding.

Smedley said:

Unwritten rule seems to be the latter. Noise/convo seems to be generally accepted before the train leaves,but not once the trip is underway.  

yellowgato said:

So serious question... does the quiet period begin when the doors are open or when the train leaves?  When the train hasn't left the station there's all sorts of noise from the outside and people coming in.  If you want absolute silence invest in earplugs.

This is a topic of great interest to me because of how nutty it makes people. 

There is a Quiet Car Cop (QCC) who once waited for me to come up the stairs in Penn Station to scold me for taking a phone call from my daughters school which lasted 30 seconds and I was VERY quiet. I was so dumbfounded by the QCC saying, "You know, it's called the QUIET CAR FOR A REASON!" that I didn't say anything. I was speechless. But when I see her now, I always leer and shush her loudly.

you're all making me wonder what would happen if noises were vocalised or emitted by someone undergoing a medical emergency...?!?

Here, a minimal level of very very quiet sound is tolerated - after all, many devices click, clatter, bags/pockets rattle, footwear knocks, people need to excuse themselves as they jostle others blindly/steadfastly ignoring them, etc...

(As an aside, would it be somehow discriminatory for sign language speakers to carry on a funny conversation, or an angry one, in such a heavily policed Quiet Car? They may be unaware of any vocalisations they make; they're talking in a place where others can't...)

Quiet car report: back car lower deck very quiet.  Only page turning and an occasional cough. 

On return trips from the city, the quiet police seem to be at the peak of nuttiness starting at Penn Station.  Then as the train begins dropping off passengers around Newark Broad, the noise level starts to slowly pick up slightly.  Maybe they get off or are asleep.

It's also strange that given the tension and noise, how one becomes so tuned to minor sounds you would normally not notice like papers shuffling, bags being opened, cellphone texts buzzing, etc. that I can see how the loonies snap so easily from these slights.

qrysdonnell said:

I've definitely been chastised for speaking in a quiet car while it was boarding

Same here. More than once I've boarded the quiet car, seen someone I knew and said "good morning" and been shushed. Once, a guy literally yelled "THIS IS THE QUIET CAR!" before my butt had even hit the seat. (And when I say "literally," I mean it in its true literal sense, not in its opposite internet sense.)

I try to avoid the quiet car, but on the occasions when I do ride in there it always strikes me that, although there is definitely less talk, what little talk does occur is almost always quite a bit louder than the conversations taking place in the not-quiet cars.