Shut up!
That’s the message some city officials are giving to operators of New York’s 250 tour buses, which cruise up and down the city’s quaintest streets, blaring local lore through a PA system.
“It’s one thing to say the streets will be filled with tourists, it’s another thing to feel like I have them in my apartment with me,” said West Village resident Cormac Flynn, 44.
But legislation mandating tour buses use headsets, as they do in more civilized Paris, won’t fully take effect until 2022. Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who is sponsoring the law, said she wants to look at phasing in the headsets more quickly, something double-deck bus operators say will cost them $3 million.
Tour guides swung back yesterday at those trying to muzzle them.
“We are seen as a target rather than car drivers who put their windows down and blare rap music,” said tour guide Matthew Baker.
No study has been done comparing the noise of tour buses to Harley Davidson motorcycles, sanitation trucks or city buses, said tour guide Lee Gelber.
“I don’t need a study to tell me that it’s a lot of noise,” said one West Village resident. “It’s very entertaining the first 30 or 40 times I hear these tours.”
