The MTA is pooh-poohing New York's ho-ho-hoin again.
SantaCon is coming to town this weekend, but transportation officials are trying to limit the chaos by imposing a 32-hour ban on alcohol on Metro-North and Long Island Railroad trains.
“Our top priority is to ensure Metro-North and Long Island Railroad passengers can celebrate safely,” MTA Police Chief John Mueller said in a statement Tuesday.
“The holiday season is a wonderful time of year, and we want everyone to enjoy the festivities and arrive at their destinations smoothly and on time.”
The ban will begin at 4 a.m. Saturday, with a six-hour grace period before the frenzied festivities are scheduled to begin, and will last until midday Sunday.
The ban also applies to all station platforms and vehicles.
The MTA is also increasing police presence to combat drunken patrols, particularly at Penn Station, Grand Central Madison, and Grand Central Terminal.
If a naughty Santa is caught secretly drinking alcohol, he could be issued a citation and removed from the train, the MTA warned.
This is the 12th year the MTA has enforced a no-alcohol ban on SantaCon weekend, which typically draws 30,000 attendees to the Big Apple from all over New York and surrounding states.
The event advertises itself as a “charitable, apolitical, no-nonsense Santa Claus convention held once a year to spread absurd joy,” but hundreds of electrified Santas took to the streets. They are far more notorious for making people sick and causing fights between elves.
The Christmas-themed bar crawl, which began in 1998, became a charity in 2014 after the New York City Police Department asked organizers to crack down on alcohol-related fights.
But a report last year found that less than a fifth of the $1.4 million Santacon raised from 2014 to 2022 went to registered charities.
SantaCon organizers say this year's $15 tickets will be donated directly to a number of charities, including City Harvest, Clowns Without Borders, the Burning Man Project and more.
