No smoking on Romanian trains
The Romanian railway company CFR has launched a campaign to ban smoking on trains beginning September 1. All ash trays have been removed and people caught smoking on the train will be fined. Tickets will say: “No smoking on the train.” In the official release CFR (a state-owned beast) doesn’t mention anything about setting up a train car where people could smoke. This initiative is all about getting passengers to go cold turkey during their trips.
Statistics show more than one third of Romania’s population of 22 million smokes.
I (a non-smoker) was debating the issue with a couple of friends last night–a heavy smoker and an occasional smoker. The only thing we could agree on was that it’s stupid that no measures were taken to accomodate the smoking population, like a smoking car. I suggested that the only way to get a smoking car is to make some noise about it. So I had some fun with this and created the image below. It says: “The person with a cigarette is a person, too. Give him a train car!”
You can do your part in teaching Romanian bureaucracy to compromise by using the childish image below or e-mailing CFR at marketing.calatori@cfr.ro. With my brother and mother both smoking, it’s the least I can do for them.
September 6th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Cool!
I agree with giving them a car. Or at least o corner somewhere. Otherwise, everybody smokes in the restroom.
September 8th, 2006 at 9:21 am
ca fumatoare ocazionala sau de ocazie, salut masura cu nefumatul…poate ar fi fost omenesc sa fie precedata de o campanie de informare. blogonest: ana
September 8th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
ana de mai sus,
prin cite tari straine ai calatorit tu pina la momentul la care ai scris textul de mai sus? In cite dintre ele ai calaltorit cu trenul?
September 10th, 2006 at 5:24 am
Uhm, I hear that most countries are banning smoking in public spaces. I know of Canada and I’ve heard that Germany isn’t too far behind.
I really don’t understand why should we accept smokers as “regular people” and accomodate them in special train carts or special areas. They have an extremely bad habbit that should not be encouraged in any way.
There are a lot of drug addicts among teenagers in Romania (the average age for a drug addict is around 17 years old) but I’m rather sure that highschools won’t create “get your fix” zones.
March 12th, 2007 at 2:26 am
I definately do not agree with a smoker car. The smell left behind by this ‘habit’ is horible. They will not die if they do not smoke for several hours.
Please, let’s not make a big deal out of this. The world has more important issues.