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.