The cacophony of New York City will no longer include the noise of tour guides on open-air tour buses, if city officials have their way. The City Council has proposed that open-air tour buses should outfit their tourists with individual headsets instead of blaring tidbits like "This is where John Lennon was shot!" via a public address speakers. According to the Post, yesterday's hearing was "heated," pitting "New Yorkers living in the city's toniest neighborhoods" versus the tour operators.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (author of the bill) said her Upper West Side constituents "hear the voice of the guide as if the person is sitting next to them in their living room, no matter if they're on the 26th floor or the second floor," and the city's Department of Consumer Affairs also supports the bill, finding that residents' "peace and tranquility" was disrupted."
One guide said his work "should not be disregarded in favor of a privileged few who can afford to live in our city's most interesting neighborhoods," but a West Village resident complained, "There is nothing as intrusive as this. At least half of what they say is not true. It's folklore, the tour information." And one irate Little Italy resident said, "They're worse than that ice-cream truck jingle."
