Bus shelters - Where is smoking ban?!
Hello folks,
I am concerning about smoking at some bus shelters. Some bus riders and loiters are constantly smoking at Club House Rd in Montgomery Village and other places. I have allergy against smoking and does not smoke in my entire life. I tried to ask them to stop smoking but they ignored or complaint. When do Maryland plan to ban smokings at all bus shelters?
I researched smoking bans with other transit agencies (in other states) and found some states have smoking bans at bus shelters. Where is smoking ban at bus shelters in Maryland and Washington DC metro area?!
Thanks,
Sword7
Are the shelters at the Metro station under their control?
If so, I think they need to put "No Smoking" signs on them. People automatically think that since they're outside of the station, it's OK to smoke. Some people think it's OK to smoke as soon as they leave the fare gates. I hate riding down an escalator following some idiot who lights up, not caring one iota about the people behind them.
-- Tom
Here is some more information related to WMATA's position. The following is taken from a transcript of the WMATA Forum with Mr. Richard White, from 1/7/2005:
Question asked:
I would like to know if it is possible to ban smoking in the bus shelters, it is very bad when two people are smoking in different parts of the bus shelter and you (the non-smoker) have to go outside of it to get away from it. Especially in theses cold months. My feeling is they have the dirty habit so they should go out of the bus shelter.
Richard White:
We totally agree with you, and the Metro Board of Directors has prohibited smoking in all Metro facilities. However, most bus shelters are owned by the local jurisdiction in which they are located, and not by us. So we have no authority to enforce the 'no smoking' restrictions in the bus shelters we don't control.
--------
Now, assuming that Mr. White was not talking out of turn here, and that what he said was, and presumably still is, WMATA policy, then Metro does indeed have the authority to enforce "no smoking" at shelters under their control. Next step - do we submit a FOIA request to the various localities to get a listing of bus shelters under local jurisdiction, and then all other shelters, by definition, would be WMATAs?
Per
This topic has been discussed to some extent previously. Glad to see it re-surfacing. I would love to have smoking banned in shelters - even though they are open on one side, the shelters are somewhat enclosed spaces and can trap noxious smoke.
If you do a search on smoking on this forum, you'll see the other posts.
I'm not sure if we can get any traction with the metro board - but it would be nice. One oddity is who has (or who claims) jurisdiction over the shelters themselves in terms of approving signage to advise customers not to smoke in shelters.
I can recall asking one local govt about who owned/or had effective jurisdiction over bus shelters only to be told WMATA had it. Then I read somewhere that WMATA claimed they dont, but that the local govt' where the shelters are located has the jurisdiction.
At first glance, that appears to be typical bureaucratic finger pointing and not wanting to take responsibility.
Pardon while I pause for a "schedule adjustment"!!
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Whether or not the shelters on metro station property are under WMATA control is a bit of a mystery - which my cynical self thinks is how metro would like it. That way, they don't have to anwswer tough questions or face tough issues.
Another enigma is the signage at Vienna Metro - you have a big sign near the entry area to the fare gates and ticket machines that says no smoking beyond this point. HOWEVER, along the sides of the glassed in walkway are no smoking indicators - the cigarette with a slash mark through it etched into the glass. Hmmmm . . . I've never gotten a straight answer from Metro to that issue - of whether people may smoke in that walkway. I always get the pat answer that smoking is prohibited on trains and in stations, period.
Peruser