New Yorkers aren’t known for their patience. And instructing them to “please be patient” when they’re trapped in a stalled subway underground – even for 30 seconds – often serves more as a frustrating reminder of their plight than a friendly message of encouragement.
Now, it appears, the MTA has figured this out.
The transit agency has scrapped its “please be patient” announcements in favor of more mollifying messages that actually apologize to straphangers for whatever service disruptions they endure, reports The New York Post.
Other announcements thank passengers for their patience during those times.
The switch comes after years of gripes from straphangers about the galling “please be patient” announcements. Many complainants perceived the message as “an admonishment,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the Post.
Frustration over the messages has even spilled into the Facebook sphere in the form of a group page entitled “NYC Subway Conductor: Stop telling me to be patient. Start being competent.”
In describing its page, the 31-member group depicts a scenario all too familiar to many a beleaguered straphanger.
It reads:
“It's a hot and sticky summer day. You spend way too long on the platform waiting for the subway to come, and when the train finally arrives, it’s completely packed. You get in, and you are surrounded by other hot and sweaty people. The train starts moving, but then stops between stops for no apparent reason.
For minutes on end, you are told nothing. Then finally the conductor comes on with broken... English through a weak speaker and announces ‘Ladies and gentlemen. We are being held temporarily. Please be patient.’
If that last sentences enrages you, this is your group.”
Ortiz told the Post the new announcements are in effect system-wide but some random trains may still have the old messages.
And if you happen to be on a train with the old announcements, please be patient. The new ones are coming.
