New York City

Ho-ho-ho: Booze is banned on trains & in stations, MTA warns SantaCon NYC drunkards

Saturday’s debauchery likely to be another vomit-filled mess

December 7, 2017 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Thousands of drunken Santas invade Grand Central Station during SantaCon. This year, MTA says any Santas caught with booze on trains or in stations could receive a summons, have their beverage confiscated and be booted from the station. Eagle photo by Mary Frost
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The normally alcohol-friendly Long Island Railroad and Metro-North are battening down the hatches with an alcohol ban for this weekend’s debauched Christmas-themed pub crawl, SantaCon NYC.

Grinches (aka MTA police) will be enforcing the ban on trains and in stations including Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and other stations frequently overrun with thousands of reeling, inebriated Kris Kringles and Rudolphs.  

Alcohol-toting Santas will have their beverages confiscated and will receive a summons carrying a fine or imprisonment, MTA said in a release. Violators may also be booted from the train or station by police.

MTA said the decision was made in order to “maintain orderly travel and safe station and terminal operations during this weekend’s SantaCon event,” adding, “This temporary alcohol ban is in effect to ensure the safety of customers and train crews.”

The ban will remain in effect from noon on Saturday, Dec. 9, through noon on Sunday, Dec. 10.

According to organizers, SantaCon NYC 2017 starts Dec. 9, 2017 at 10 a.m.

The starting locations is only revealed the night before the event, but the word is Santas won’t be vomiting their way across Brooklyn this year.

The thousands of Santas will assemble in Midtown, a SantaCon organizer told Patch. This year will mark the second straight year that SantaCon will be confined to Manhattan, according to Patch.

The event, during which thousands of out-of-towners and even many local dress up as Christmas characters including reindeers, Santas and Ms. Clause and Christmas trees, often involves unsafe amounts of booze drunk at bars across NYC. The event is actually a fundraiser, however, raising more than $200,000 for charity over the years, and organizers are trying to tame the drinking, limit the vomiting and curb the fighting.

See Santacon.nyc for more.

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