(The following article by Samuel Bruchey was posted on the Newsday website on July 13.)
NEW YORK — For James McGovern, taking part in the better behavior survey of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council has left him with a single horrifying image: the man he caught flossing his teeth on the Port Washington train.
Right there in an aisle seat. Working that skinny string like a fiddle. Not an ounce of discretion in him.
“That was the highlight for sure,” McGovern said.
More than halfway through the two-month survey, McGovern and his seven compatriots have become seasoned bad behavior spies.
They appear to be ordinary commuters except that they’re armed with notepads and pencils and their eyes never stop moving — searching for offenses to common courtesy.
What they’ve found has been alarming.
“There is a complete lack of self-awareness on the train,” said another council member, Sandra Krebelj-Douglas.
It’s not just the cell phone blabbering. The iPods cranked up. The trash. It’s the sheer volume of it all.
“I know one thing: It shouldn’t be so tough to have a nice, quiet ride,” McGovern said.
The council, which advocates for riders, will report its findings to the LIRR at the end of this month. The railroad has said it will post notices on trains and platforms to discourage bad behavior on the rails.
But even now, the council members have already spotted some trends.
Patty Santosus, 38, who takes the Oyster Bay line, said she doesn’t hear conductors making courtesy announcements on newer trains, perhaps because the newer models use pre-recorded announcements about upcoming stops.
“Even when they are given, I don’t think people notice them,” Santosus said.
The railroad said it regularly reminds riders to pick up their newspapers and trash, keep their feet off seats and talk quietly on cell phones.
Gerry Bringmann, chairman of the commuter’s council, said he has noticed that it’s the afternoon trains that are more apt to have an empty beer can rolling down the aisle or a nest of crumpled newspapers across a seat.
And Bringmann believes it is the occasional rider who is far more likely to offend.
“The guys who have been riding a long time have gotten the dirty looks or been spoken to before,” he said.