NJ Transit Tries Out Quiet Cars

Category U.S. | Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

In the chat-free coaches that made their debut on Tuesday, creaking air-conditioning units and an incessant rumbling went unchallenged by the usual din of cellphone conversations, the de facto soundtrack of the daily commute.

“It is a movement toward civility,” said Frank Cioffi, an English professor who often finds himself infuriated at gabbing riders on his commutes to Princeton Junction. “You’ve got these high-powered businessmen in the morning doing heavy-duty negotiations, while you’re trying to read a book.”

As part of a three-month pilot program, 29 express trains between Trenton and Manhattan have acquired two quiet cars, one at each end, that promise commuters a Zen-like cocoon: “No cell, no song/low talk/in peace we travel/arrive calm,” read the pale-blue promotional posters.

Of course, ornery commuters have been enforcing de facto quiet cars since the dawn of the mobile age. “Anyone who got on a cellphone at 6 a.m. would get shut down pretty quickly,” said John Place, 48, of his early-morning train to Wall Street.

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