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Coaster alcohol ban approved

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Transit leaders on Thursday imposed a ban on drinking alcohol on San Diego County’s Coaster passenger line, a move that some said was long overdue and others criticized as short-sighted.

North County Transit District’s Board of Directors voted 8-0 to approve the ban, with one director absent. The agency has long cited concerns about rowdy, alcohol-fueled behavior on the trains.

The board also outlawed the use of electronic cigarettes on all district property.

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The bans go into effect Feb. 1, 2015.

Over the last several weeks, NCTD has received hundreds of comments urging the agency to preserve the right to drink, many from longtime riders. Staff members at the agency, however, recommended the prohibition citing safety concerns and the strain on district security caused by alcohol-related incidents.

Passengers have been allowed to drink beer and wine on the Coaster since the service opened in 1995. The commuter line runs between Oceanside and downtown San Diego.

Speaking at the board’s meeting in Oceanside, Trudy Clark, a Coaster rider for the past seven years, suggested the agency designate a separate train for those who want to drink alcohol.

“One beer on the way home isn’t doing any harm, or one glass of wine on the way home isn’t doing any harm,” Clark said. “It gives people the chance to socialize.”

Vince Vasquez, a San Diego civic activist and craft beer enthusiast, called the ban “a missed opportunity” by the transit district.

He said the agency could have hired a concessionaire to control the sale of alcohol aboard trains, and showcase some of the region’s popular craft brews.

Through letters to the agency, many opponents of the ban urged the agency to strike a compromise.

Amtrak trains are the only other local mode of public transportation that allows riders to drink alcohol while onboard.

At the meeting, board members said they’ve been patient with the Coaster’s alcohol problems in the past. On Thursday, they said they’d had enough.

“I’ve been on this board for 20 years… This isn’t the first time this issue has come up,” San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn said at the agency’s Oceanside board chambers, following a public hearing on the topic. “We have tried to make allowance. We have tried to enforce, but we just finally decided that it was time to shut this down. … It’s not that this is the first chance.”

“We are in the transportation business, we are not in the entertainment business and we are not in the refreshment business,” Horn added.

Escondido City Councilman Ed Gallo said he was reluctant to prohibit drinking for all riders when most behave. In the end, he said, the agency’s staff convinced him otherwise.

“It’s only an hour from the Santa Fe Depot to Oceanside and it’s kind of like smoking, if you can’t hold out for an hour, maybe there’s something wrong. I don’t know,” he said at the meeting.

In 2009, the agency limited drinking on the Coaster to before 9 p.m. It rejected a call at the time for a full ban on alcohol consumption.

When it proposed a full ban on drinking again last year, it received numerous suggestions from the public to enact a compromise “between what (policy) we have today and a full ban,” a transit official said at the time.

In the interim, the agency beefed up security and initiated a civility campaign on the Coaster, officials said.

Those efforts did not solve the problem, a transit spokeswoman said.

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