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LISTEN: MTA Drops Words from Subway Announcements

By Gwynne Hogan | April 20, 2015 5:57pm
Subway Announcement
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DJ Hammers/Youtube

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA recently rolled out new, abbreviated announcements on at least one 5 train, cutting out seemingly useless words like "the" and "is."

The slightly shorter announcements went live in at least one 5 train subway car, and continued at each stop, according to a video posted on Youtube by DJ Hammers on April 14.

Instead of hearing the announcer say "the next stop is Church Avenue," it says "next stop: Church Avenue," truncating the phrase subway riders have grown accustomed to and defying laws of grammar with a verbless string of words. 

Gothamist was the first to report on the change.

The MTA confirmed that it did roll out a trial announcement, but declined to elaborate.

"Something we are trying out," said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.