MTA bans booze on LIRR, Metro-North during SantaCon as NYC braces for drunken buffoons

Clayton Guse, New York Daily News
·2 min read

New York’s commuter railroads will run dry this weekend as the MTA implements a booze ban during the city’s annual SantaCon festival, a loosely organized bar crawl in Manhattan that draws throngs of drunken buffoons dressed in Santa suits.

The event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but will be back in full force Saturday as the army of inebriated Santa Clauses plan to hit more than 50 bars across Manhattan, where attendees will be required to provide proof of vaccination.

Drinking alcohol is already forbidden on the city’s subways, buses and paratransit services, but riders on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road are permitted a tipple or two while they commute. That permission will be revoked from 4 a.m. on Saturday until noon Sunday, and transit officials said any booze will be seized by cops and those who violate the rule will be subject to a $50 summons.

“There may be riders coming back to the train for the first time since the start of the pandemic,” said MTA Police Chief Joseph McGrann. “It is important we do everything we can to maintain orderly travel so that everyone can enjoy their holiday plans by getting to their destinations smoothly and on time.”

NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said alcohol has been banned on the agency’s railroads under a mask mandate issued by the federal Transportation Security Administration in January, shortly after President Biden took office. The rule will not change during SantaCon, Smith said.

MTA spokesman Tim Minton said riders on the MTA’s commuter railroads have throughout the pandemic been allowed to briefly remove their masks to sip beverages while they ride.

Transportation Security Administration officials last week extended the mask mandate for mass transit riders until at least March 18 as the first cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 were identified in the U.S.

SantaCon organizers promote the event as a “charitable, nonpolitical, nonsensical” Santa convention.