Mon 28 Apr 2008
Inflation Hits Bar Cars/Carts
Posted by TJ under Bar Car, Beer, Samuel Adams
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Metro-North is poised to hike up the price of a cocktail on both its bar cars and the carts stationed near the platforms in Grand Central. The railroad is “seeking approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors to raise prices…to keep pace with inflation.”
Metro-North’s booze sales represented $607,000 in profit last year, approximately 63% of it from me. Metro-North estimates it sells a million beers and 250,000 bags of chips in a year.
The MTA board will vote on the matter–a joint request between Metro-North and Long Islang Railroad–Wednesday, and the price hikes would go into effect May 8. Perhaps more daunting, the railroad is also “seeking authorization to raise prices each September at the rate of growth in the consumer price index… without seeking board approval.”
The new price list would see a domestic beer jump from $2 to $2.50.

Your guest editor is of a geekier bent than your regular virtual conductor, so here’s my favorite train-related tech tip. Did you know that the MTA’s Web site contains its own version of the Big Board — the Grand Central Terminal departure info displayed on monitors around the station?