Outerbridge

It would solve the problem of my hair smelling like a pack of used Newports every day. I'm not the one begging for people to return to the city center (Mayor Adams) and constantly griping about "pre-pandemic ridership levels" (the MTA, in every single press release, it seems) so it just seems odd that the MTA would continue to permit smoking, which violates state law and also discourages the 5% of New Yorkers who don't smoke from using the system.

The MTA has some new public service announcements in some trains, highlighting the issue of "courtesy", such as not taking up excess seating or playing loud music. It is interesting that one of the posters highlights "smoking" as being discourteous. Unlike loud music and laying on the seats, smoking on the trains and in underground subway stations is a CRIME, and it is too bad that the MTA has downplayed it in this manner. My recent complaint (one of many) to the MTA received a response which seemed to be authors by a real human (as opposed to being a boilerplate response), and in that response, it was mentioned that the NYPD will be "using their discretion" when encountering people smoking on platforms and trains. While the problem of smoking is not as serious as the problem of the three dozen people who have been shoved onto the tracks in the past two years, or the problem of the intelligent youth who videotape themselves passing away while sitting on the roofs of trains, it is still disheartening that the MTA doesn't see smoking as a serious issue. I will probably abandon the subway as a form of transportation in NYC if this keeps up much longer.