New York City Transit (NYCT) and @newyorknico have partnered to launch a new batch of subway and bus announcements from iconic New Yorkers.
Customers will now hear new and authentic twists on many of the system's longstanding slate of announcements at roughly 400 subway stations, on thousands of subway cars and on nearly 4,500 buses. NYCT says the reimagined announcements are aimed at injecting a dose of authentic New York swagger into the system and providing a morale boost and some much-needed humor for customers returning to the system as New York begins to recover from the pandemic. The announcement scripts were written collaboratively by Nicolas Heller and team, MTA employees and the celebrities themselves, and are part of a broader partnership between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Heller, a celebrated Instagram personality.
The audio recordings feature a wide range of prominent New Yorkers from diverse backgrounds, including the comedian Jerry Seinfeld, actress Whoopi Goldberg and the rapper Cam'Ron. Altogether, roughly 50 recordings will be launched over the course of the campaign. This first phase of the collaboration will run in the system for at least a month. The actors, musicians, broadcasters and others involved in recording the scripts were encouraged to make the announcements their own, reflective of their personalities and with special emphasis placed on the importance of mask usage during the pandemic.
“The New York City subway is more than a means of getting around the world's greatest city, it’s the vital connector that brings New Yorkers of all backgrounds together,” said Interim NYCT President Sarah Feinberg. “In many ways, the subway system is the unifying force that brings us all together – and will be a huge part of New York’s comeback. No one understands the cultural significance of the system better than @newyorknico. This has been a difficult year for New York City Transit, but as we start to look beyond the pandemic, we hope this new set of announcements will remind our customers of what makes New York so special.”
“This is such an honor for me. Mass transit is the cultural lifeblood of our city and partnering with the MTA to bring some joy into the system after the most challenging year imaginable is the least I can do to help with the system's broader recovery,” said @newyorknico. “The city's subways and buses--and the range of characters who ride them--have always been central to my work and I'm so grateful that I could help bring some of the most recognizable voices of iconic New Yorkers to the system. The members of the MTA workforce have braved the pandemic and heroically moved essential workers throughout the pandemic. This is for them.”
Announcements will come from more than 25 iconic New Yorkers and appear throughout the system in the order referenced below:
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Cam’ron
- Young M.A.
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Edie Falco
- Bowen Yang
- Awkwafina
- Angie Martinez
- Bob the Drag Queen
- Debi Mazar
- Michael Rapaport
- Jadakiss
- DesusNice
- The Kid Mero
- MaliibuMitch
- Dave East
- FivioForeign
- Pat Kiernan
- Angela Yee
- Peter Rosenberg
- Ilana Glazer
- Michael Kay
- Eric Andre
- Abbi Jacobson
