(The following story by Paul Nussbaum appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on January 13.)
PHILADELPHIA — The “quiet car” lived up to its name yesterday afternoon on the first day of SEPTA’s trial run at required silence and civility.
The first car of the 4:15 R5 express to Doylestown was dedicated to the proposition that naps, books and even iTunes could best be enjoyed in quietude.
The only sounds were those of a page being turned or a throat being cleared. Only when conductor Genevieve Sheard announced the next stop was there a voice louder than a murmur.
Through March 13, SEPTA is experimenting with “Quiet Ride,” restricting the use of cell phones or other noisemakers in the first cars of its peak-hour express trains on the R5/Lansdale-Doylestown line. The program will be extended to other trains if passengers embrace the idea.
“A lot of people I work with who ride other trains say they hope we like it, because they want it, too,” said Pam Eckardt, a lab technician at Pennsylvania Hospital who was on her way home to Ambler.
Teresa Beyer, a legal secretary from Barto in Berks County, said she always rode in the first train car and was “looking forward” to having it turned into a rolling cone of silence. Then she promptly fell asleep.
Kim Scott Heinle, SEPTA’s assistant general manager for customer service, said the first morning of the pilot program appeared to have been well-received.
“From what I am told by our railroad operations team, everything went very well on the six morning R5 trains. We are having an internal meeting tomorrow to assess Day 1 and the morning of Day 2 to see if any immediate fine-tuning is needed.”
In the afternoon, riders on the 4:15 express said they – like most travelers – had occasionally suffered through trips punctuated by obnoxious cell-phone conversations or loud music players.
“For the most part, people are usually pretty civil, especially in the mornings,” Eckardt said. “It’s in the afternoons when people seem to get rowdy.”
“Sometimes they get into arguments on their cell phones. You know, you really don’t need to hear other people’s personal business.”
Jeffrey Mordan, a teacher of art and technology at The Philadelphia School, said he was on the quiet car by an accident of habit: “This is just where I always sit.”
Mordan was plugged into his iPod, enjoying sounds while his neighbors enjoyed the silence.
“I’d rather SEPTA had an exercise car or something,” he said, laughing. “Because all the cars are supposed to be quiet.”
Since yesterday’s trains were not especially crowded, some passengers were skeptical that the early peace would hold.
The test will come when cell-phone users from other crowded cars want to shift to the quiet car to get a seat, or when “you get a crying kid whose parents could care less,” said Shelley Singer, of Montgomery Glen, as he got off the train at Lansdale.
“It will be pleasant till you get your first couple arguments. Or what about during the Flower Show? Then, if they can hear themselves think in the quiet car, they’ll be lucky.”
SEPTA officials urged riders to evaluate the quiet cars by submitting an online form that can be found at www.septa.org (click News, then What’s New), or by calling customer service at 215-580-7800.