The MTA encourages conductors to stick to its script. Guidelines require basic announcements when the doors of a subway car are open in a station, including the line, station name and any transfer points. Conductors are permitted to add brief scripted niceties and PSAs: “stand clear of the closing doors,” “the time is now [time],” “thank you for riding MTA, New York City Transit,” “keep an eye on your belongings at all times,” etc. They can also announce delays and their cause.
But every so often, you’ll get a conductor who flexes this policy, mixing up the language to lend a personal touch, or, my favorite, add color commentary, capping stop announcements with a brief note of highlights at street level. Some stops always get this qualifier, but only the iconic ones: “42nd Street, Times Square” and “34th Street, Penn Station,” for example. But to lend a qualifier to most every stop is rare. Since living here, I remember hearing a conductor do this only once, on the 1 train. She offered shopping tips all the way up the West Side, saying things like “79th Street, Filene’s Basement, Circuit City.”
The conductor of my A train home tonight did much the same. He sounded suspiciously like Mars Blackmon and I noticed upon exiting that he sported a flattop. Here’s what he said for each stop:
- “59th, Columbus Circle, Time-Warner Center.”
- “125th, home of the world-, world-, world-famous Apollo Theater.”
- “145th, Sugar Hill.”
- “168th, the hospital.”
- “175th, George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal.”
- “181st.”
- “190th, Overlook Terrace, a.k.a. The Cloisters.”
- “Dyckman.”
As you can see, poor 181st Street, as well as my home stop, Dyckman, got the short shrift. (For Dyckman, I’d have mentioned the underrated Fort Tryon Park). This conductor made me wish I’d entered his train much further down the line so I could have heard what he had to say about stops like Canal, 4th and 14th.
Commuters are conditioned to hear familiar announcements repeatedly from conductors, so unscripted deviations like these can be jarring. Mostly though, when the commentary is different and briefly informative, it reminds me that travel here is never a line on a map but a connection of dots curious and noteworthy.