Heaneyland!

Train tickets

I see that the MTA is instituting some new rules for subway riders -- most of which don't bother me, but I do have some questions about them. The list of no-nos:

Moving between cars
Drinking from an open container
Straddling a bicycle
Skateboarding or wearing inline skates

First question: what's the big deal about straddling a bike? Yes, it takes up a lot of space -- but so does standing next to a bike. In fact, standing next to it probably takes up more space. I don't get it. Second question: Speaking as someone who usually has a bottle of water in his backpack, does a bottle with a cap count as an open container? I would like to see a definition of "open container", because honestly, if you can drink from it, it's open, right? I presume this regulation is meant to prevent the thing where people put a half-finished coffee on the floor, it tips over, and then the floor gets all gross, in which case, more power to that. Because I don't want to have to come up with some kind of semi-permeable membrane that I can put over the neck of my water bottle so I can say, look, it's not open, it's covered with a membrane! Anyway, if the goal is to keep people from spilling their drinks, capped bottles are probably okay, but some official confirmation of that would surely put my mind at ease.

They are also not going to ban photography after all, and you may put packages on a seat next to you if it's not interfering with other passengers. Hey, guy who was sitting next to me yesterday, do you think "interfering" includes "constantly poking in the rib because you're not willing to put your bag on your lap or on the floor"? Do you?