MTA's New Etiquette Campaign: Keep Your Knees Together and Your Bodies Off the Pole

As subway ridership reaches record numbers, New Yorkers are getting "gentle but firm" reminders about courtesy and spatial awareness. 

Posters for the "Courtesy Counts, Manners Make a Better Ride" campaign will be put in subways and buses next month. In February, they will expand to Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.

“Courtesy is always important but it takes on an added significance as transit ridership continues to increase,” said NYC Transit president Carmen Bianco. “The simple act of stepping aside to let riders off the train before you board can trim valuable seconds from the time a train dwells in a station while removing a backpack makes more room for everyone. These acts serve to speed the trip while increasing the level of comfort.”

The campaign is grouped into behaviors that are to be encouraged — and those that should be publicly shamed in a pictogram. Or, as the MTA puts it, 'Do's and don'ts.'

On the "Do's" list:

• “Step Aside to Let Others Off First”
• “Keep Your Stuff to Yourself”
• “Take Your Pack Off Your Back”
• “Offer Your Seat to an Elderly, Disabled, or Pregnant Person”
• “Take Your Litter Off With You”
• “Keep the Sound Down”

From the MTA's new subway awareness campaign

(MTA )

The 'don't' category targets manspreading, as well as a handful of other behaviors designed to drive subway riders crazy.

• “Poles Are For Your Safety, Not Your Latest Routine”
• “Clipping? Primping?”
• “Don’t be a Pole Hog”
• “It’s a Subway Car Not a Dining Car”
• “Blocking Doors”         
• “Dude…..Stop the Spread, Please”

Another image from the MTA's new subway etiquette campaign

(MTA)

The campaign does not urge riders to leave their trees at home, presumably because that behavior is seasonal.

Christmas comes to the D train

(Kate Hinds )

What do you think? Is the MTA excluding any behaviors you'd like to see explored in its etiquette campaign? Let us know below.