Ads beg subway snackers to desist

WASHINGTON - News reports about Metro Transit Police arresting a 12-year-old for eating french fries or a woman for nibbling a candy bar apparently aren't enough to discourage riders from eating or drinking in the capital's subway.

So on Friday the transit agency broke out four humorous posters that officials hope will persuade the holdouts to take their food and drink elsewhere.

"If we let people eat and drink on the train, we'd get a lot of new riders," warns one; beneath the words is a large picture of a cockroach.

The 28-year-old Metro system once prided itself on its cleanliness. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, garbage cans were removed from stations, and the result was more trash. The receptacles were revamped, supposedly to contain an explosion, and were returned to some stations.

The new campaign doesn't shy away from french fries, despite the reactions it got after its police handcuffed a girl eating fries on a train platform in 2000. One poster features fries spilled over a newspaper, and offers riders a deal: "If you don't eat on our train seat, we won't sit on your kitchen table."

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in the french fries incident and other infamous cases, police asked the alleged offenders to comply voluntarily.

"We didn't get that voluntary compliance," Farbstein said, "so we're hoping that this awareness campaign will make people more aware that this is a law, and we'd just like them to comply."

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