PSA: The subway PSAs have gotten ridiculous, advocates say
25% of your ride might be taken up with annoying announcements; here's a plan to change that
The assault of noise coming out of the speakers in the subway system can feel as random as it is grating, with an onslaught of PSAs and other announcements penetrating any moment of peace on a commute. But the issue reached a real breaking point a few months ago: ads.
Last year, the MTA announced it would test a pilot program piping 30 seconds ads into select stations and trains every 10 minutes or so, which would last until June. The implication was dire: we have you trapped, Black Mirror style, in a tube where you have to listen to commercials at a volume of our choosing.
“That’s really a step too far,” Blair Lorenzo, executive director of the Effective Transit Alliance, said. “You can look away from an advertisement … You really can’t turn off hearing. It’s exploiting people.”
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