Gothamist: Like, Duh: Subway Station Announcements Are Inaudible

Anna

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 16:30:12 -0500

I complained about the subway my whole life. Then I moved out of NY. It's the best damn transportation in America. I consider moving back just for easily accessible, frequent public transportation. Leave for a bit (or remember the MTA in the 80s) – You'll never complain again.

Toby

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 15:27:28 -0500

Yes, that SNL sketch was was classic.

sp

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 14:52:39 -0500

I just came back from Paris, wow, their subway system is leaps and bounds better than ours. The announcements are all perfectly understandable, and they are in three languages. The platforms have signs showing you how many minutes it will take for the next two trains to arrive. cellphone service works in the tunnels between stations and on the platforms. they have panels in the stations where you can press a button for your current location and for your destination station and it shows you the connections you need to make to get there. awesome, and cheaper than the NYC subway at about $1.65 per ride, and they have much more options for discounted tickets if you buy multiple day or week or month passes.

Meredith

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 14:04:27 -0500

Remember the SNL sketch about transit workers making impossible-to-understand announcements? Anyone?

LarimdaME

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 13:41:16 -0500

"If you see smoke on the platform you are not going to stand there and wait." Um. NO. Personal experience says otherwise. Not only do people stand there and wait, they get on the train when it comes in. The King's Cross fire shows that some people will actually head TOWARDS the smoke source, out of curiosity.

sarahoc

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 13:30:58 -0500

I was stuck on an uptown C train at 23rd Street for about half an hour this morning. The announcements would have been completely audible had there not been two competing announcements going on at the same time - one on the train and one at the station. It made an already annoying situation even more irritating.

Tim Morris

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:49:17 -0500

NYC subway announcements always remind me of the scene in Monsieur Hulot's Holiday where people move from platform to platform in response to completely unintelligible announcements. There is no way of responding rationally to them. You have to have a kind of intuitive sense of what (if anything) to do next.

tasan

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:46:23 -0500

haha great post! They should do something about the conductor intercoms too in the older subway cars... I used to think that the announcements came from the station when you hear something from inside the subway car, because you just couldn't understand it. i remember there was one conductor on the F train who used to put on the radio/music on the intercom. That was pretty cool. ...so after those 3 days of crowded agony and sore feet...no one gets charged in the end?!?!?! NY is starting to disappoint...

MissPinkKate

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:14:11 -0500

I'm glad most announcements are inaudible- do I really need to hear 5 times a day to watch my bags? Or stand clear of the doors? I don't need an apology for the delay. Just shut up and take me where I'm going, thanks.