The MTA’s “Courtesy Counts” campaign, launching in October 2023, is a joke. Not a funny joke, ha-ha. It’s a sad joke about humanity.
Do New Yorkers, the most evolved mammals, really need to be taught not to occupy more than one seat on a train? Does our species really need a publicly funded advertising campaign to lecture us and encourage us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us? Sadly, yes.
Isn’t civilized behavior in our traveling DNA? Apparently not. My problem isn’t with the MTA. It’s with uncivilized civilians.
According to the MTA’s October 3, 2023 press release, Courtesy Counts is a “multi-agency campaign reminding customers to follow the MTA’s Rules of Conduct and treat other riders and public spaces with respect.” The 34 illustrations and slogans that make up the campaign feature messages “about different ways to respect other riders and encourage courteous behavior in public spaces.”
Digital ads appear on subway cars, buses, Metro-North trains, the Long Island Rail Road and on transit station platforms. The campaign also appears on social media and on flyers distributed to riders.
Reminders include “keeping pets in carriers and service animals on leashes, allowing people to get on and off the train without obstruction, not talking loudly on the phone, wearing headphones, giving everyone room to stand, not lying down while occupying multiple seats, not smoking or vaping, not holding doors, not charging electric vehicles, not leaving the emergency exit door open for others to enter without paying the fare, not leaving a bicycle unattended or obstructing the space, and not littering.”
Not littering is basic public behavior. The “Carry In, Carry Out” principle works in Central Park; it should work on the subway. Unfortunately, the MTA can’t legislate courtesy. Look at the tracks. That’s a veritable smorgasbord of rodents down there.
Some polite suggestions for the courtesy don’t list:
Don’t eat stinky food.
Do not spill drinks on the floor.
Do not stick chewing gum on the seat.
Do not use subway bars as gym equipment.
Do not throw food or paper on the tracks, this will attract a pack of rats and could cause a fire on the tracks.
Do not surf between or on moving subway cars.
Don’t forget to use deodorant and mouthwash.
Do not sing, especially out of tune, or play amplified instruments. No one in this car bought a ticket to your concert.
Do not push anyone onto the tracks.
Don’t ask the Zionists to raise their hands.
Courtesy and decency, once common, are now uncommon, regardless of language, culture or country of origin. I see subway and bus riders refusing to give up their seats to the elderly or, sometimes, even to pregnant women. I have never seen such disrespect in the past. And I have been traveling by train for 40 years.
In Times Square and on 14th Street, I watch day after day in disbelief as hordes of passengers swarm subway cars before passengers can get off, causing blockages and delays. This is despite the Courtesy Counts campaign’s reminder to “let people get on and off the train without obstruction” and the recorded announcement that “there’s another train right behind this one.” This isn’t the last helicopter to leave Saigon, folks.
But the worst act of rudeness is fare evasion. Citywide, bus fare evasion is at 47% and subway fare evasion is at 14%, which adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. Not to mention the hundreds of millions lost to toll evasion on bridges and tunnels. According to the MTA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Fare Evasion, the agency lost an estimated $690 million in unpaid fares and tolls in 2022.
On May 22, the MTA announced that the panel, which met in spring 2022, had made “progress in reducing subway fare evasion.” Comprised of “experts” in education, social justice, business, and law enforcement, the panel was given a “mandate” by the MTA to investigate the root causes of fare evasion and toll evasion and develop a comprehensive strategy to combat it.
While the MTA is studying the root causes of toll and fare evasion as determined by the panel — “fairness, enforcement, customer education, and improving the physical environment” — the primary cause remains violators who fail to pay their fares. Courtesy Counts ads should reprimand violators by asking them to “pay their fair fare,” and enforcement measures should be further strengthened.
Civility begins with “holding the door” for someone, Mayor Adams said at the recent “Abate Hate” conference at Gracie Mansion. He’s right. From there, bad behavior escalates.
Frydman is CEO of Source Communications, a Manhattan-based strategic and tactical communications firm.
