Best NTT Announcer

[Q23 via 108]

I find it funny when to voices mix in the same announcement.

(Jessica) "THIS IS A MANHATTAN BOUND  VIA THE 7TH AVENUE LINE,(Dianne) the next stop is, 96 st."

You literally got some chick screaming at you. And then it goes to a nice peaceful grandma voice. 

But imo, the entire A division (except is good to my ears.

All the B division announcements I dislike except the , , and 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Q23 via 108

[Next Train Announcer]

Thanks for the nice words about my announcements! I understand some of my safety announcements are now being heard in 7 line stations.

[Uncle Floyd Fan]

While this thread is about the pre-recorded announcements, I'd like to go retro for a moment and talk about 2 memorable conductors and their respective announcements:

1- An older gentleman on the F train would announce each transfer option with the suffix of "train"....for example: "This is Roosevelt Avenue - Jackson Heights. Transfer here to the E Train, M Train and R Train. 7 train upstairs, Q-70 bus to LaGuardia Airport downstairs. This is an F train to Kings Highway. Next stop 21 St. Queensbridge. Stand clear of the closing doors". His persona fit right in with the older trains in which he made the announcements - the one with orange seats and an old scroll sign (sorry, I'm not familiar with the make and models of the subway cars - all I know that it wasn't a Bombardier).

2- Also an older gent on the 7 train. He sounded like a world-weary type of guy who's seen it all. Even 20+ years later, I recall his frustration with a passenger interfering with the doors: "Lady - You're something else".

[Cabanamaner]

2 hours ago, Uncle Floyd Fan said:

While this thread is about the pre-recorded announcements, I'd like to go retro for a moment and talk about 2 memorable conductors and their respective announcements:

1- An older gentleman on the F train would announce each transfer option with the suffix of "train"....for example: "This is Roosevelt Avenue - Jackson Heights. Transfer here to the E Train, M Train and R Train. 7 train upstairs, Q-70 bus to LaGuardia Airport downstairs. This is an F train to Kings Highway. Next stop 21 St. Queensbridge. Stand clear of the closing doors". His persona fit right in with the older trains in which he made the announcements - the one with orange seats and an old scroll sign (sorry, I'm not familiar with the make and models of the subway cars - all I know that it wasn't a Bombardier).

2- Also an older gent on the 7 train. He sounded like a world-weary type of guy who's seen it all. Even 20+ years later, I recall his frustration with a passenger interfering with the doors: "Lady - You're something else".

A few years ago, there was an annoying operator on the  who would yell that the D doesn’t stop at DeKalb Avenue. Every. Single. Stop. Yes, the D does stop at DeKalb at night, but yelling that at every stop during rush hour doesn’t make any sense. 

[Deucey]

Is there a different announcer for  after 57th St? I swear today I heard a deeper voice announcing transfers at Lex going toward 96th St

[4 via Mosholu]

On 7/6/2019 at 3:48 PM, Deucey said:

Is there a different announcer for  after 57th St? I swear today I heard a deeper voice announcing transfers at Lex going toward 96th St

Pardon me for necroposting, but I still don't know whose voice that is😂! As far as I know, it perhaps sounds like Mitchell's lower voice.

Anyways, there were two times that I ran into the same conductor and R62A set on the local (1975 to 1691 to be exact); he has a name, Rodney. The first time I got on his train in a while was on Wednesday, July 31 (I had first run into him when he did the General Order that had him run express from Pelham Bay Park to Hunts Point, stopping at East 177th Street) and his train became the first to run express after Hunts Point. The way he did his announcements were very crisp and clear, as authoritative as Ettinger that does the Lexington - 4th Avenue Express and Local. The second time was today and it was earlier this morning. It became the last train to completely run express from East 177 to 138th - 3rd (stopping at Hunts Point). Both times, that set ended up on the same track (the West Track) to depart Pelham Bay Park and it was both times where I missed the earlier express on the East Track.

[Lance]

It's one of the station announcers you hear for various service changes. They really wanted him to sound like Charlie though.

[Jemorie]

Guess what I wish for the  to do for some of the NTT announcements? Lol.

1. Restore the original "This is a Manhattan-bound  train" announcement from Catherine for southbound service in Queens and northbound service in Brooklyn (except for 59 St, 36 St, and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, where they should use the "This is a Manhattan-bound  express train" announcement instead; also use the "This is a Coney Island-bound  express train" announcement going southbound at Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr and 36 St).

2. Remove the word "local" from all NTT announcements or in general just get rid of any NTT announcement that has to use/do with the word "local" in them (ex. restore the older "This is a Manhattan-bound  train" announcement in Brooklyn").

3. Restore the original  train announcements instead of the mixed mishaps we get now.

4. Shorten some of the current long winded ass announcements (ex. "This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train" instead of "This is a Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue-bound  local/  express; "This is a Coney Island-bound  train" instead of "This is a Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue-bound  local train).

5. Have every line's NTT use only one announcer instead of multiple announcers at once.

6. Eliminate the SBS announcements; they're bus routes like any other anyway, so why bother? It also caused some of the LED signs get screwed I think (case and point, the "7 AV LOC", "LEXINGTON AV LOC", "EASTERN PKWY LOC", etc I've noticed on the R142s and R142As).

Edited August 13, 2019 by Jemorie

[Lex]

2 hours ago, Jemorie said:

2. Remove the word "local" from all NTT announcements or in general just get rid of any NTT announcement that has to use/do with the word "local" in them (ex. restore the older "This is a Manhattan-bound  train" announcement in Brooklyn").

4. Shorten some of the current long winded ass announcements (ex. "This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train" instead of "This is a Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue-bound  local/  express; "This is a Coney Island-bound  train" instead of "This is a Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue-bound  local train).

Realistically, who benefits from going through with this?

 

2 hours ago, Jemorie said:

3. Restore the original  train announcements instead of the mixed mishaps we get now.

5. Have every line's NTT use only one announcer instead of multiple announcers at once.

While the  is rather oddball, most cases of mixing involve reroutes or stations being renamed/added. Of course, we could always just have Velina Mitchell rerecord everything...

[Jemorie]

Simply put, if you grew up on a train/bus line and ride it on a daily basis, then it shouldn’t be a big deal. If not, well, just shows your irresponsibility. There’s no buts, ifs, or ands about it. Sorry. Plus, the stops that are shown on the official individual line map with the dots (current A Division NTTs) or the “next stop” displays (B Division NTTs). In addition, the countdown clocks that tell you when the next train is due, local, and/or express.

I repeat...I want the NTT announcements on the  and  southbound in Brooklyn to say “This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train” (express for the  at Borough Hall, Nevins, and Atlantic). Same for the Coney Island-bound  and  in Brooklyn. Not this long winded ass announcement stuff.

Hopefully some of my wishes (more preferably all of them) for these come true in the foreseeable future lol.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Jemorie

[Lex]

2 hours ago, Jemorie said:

Simply put, if you grew up on a train/bus line and ride it on a daily basis, then it shouldn’t be a big deal. If not, well, just shows your irresponsibility. There’s no buts, ifs, or ands about it. Sorry. Plus, the stops that are shown on the official individual line map with the dots (current A Division NTTs) or the “next stop” displays (B Division NTTs). In addition, the countdown clocks that tell you when the next train is due, local, and/or express.

I repeat...I want the NTT announcements on the  and  southbound in Brooklyn to say “This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train” (express for the  at Borough Hall, Nevins, and Atlantic). Same for the Coney Island-bound  and  in Brooklyn. Not this long winded ass announcement stuff.

Hopefully some of my wishes (more preferably all of them) for these come true in the foreseeable future lol.

So it's less about benefit and more about personal wet dreams. Got it.

[Jemorie]

17 minutes ago, Lex said:

So it's less about benefit and more about personal wet dreams. Got it.

Lol. Having an attitude and gossiping because I stated the cold obvious truth I see? Get over your damn self, homes. There is no “benefit” or “personal wet dreams” when there’s this thing called taking accountability for your own actions and taking some form of responsibility. I’m just being real here. If you know how to get to school or work on time, every day, every year, then you should know how your trains and buses function. Your boss at work does not care if the train or the bus is late. If he or she can get to work on time, so can you. There’s this thing called planning ahead - Plan B.  The  website also does not exist just because. It exists for a reason.

For example, if the printed schedules didn’t mean a thing to the agency, they would have never even posted them from the beginning. Trains don’t just show up whenever the agency wants them to. Everything has a set schedule for a reason.

Another example, if you know you gotta study harder for state regents exams while you’re in high school, do so. Because tutoring is not always available. If so, ask for help if you really feel you need. Speaking from personal experience.

Case and point. If you cannot help yourself, how do you expect anyone else to help you?

Edited August 13, 2019 by Jemorie

[Lex]

1 hour ago, Jemorie said:

Lol. Having an attitude and gossiping because I stated the cold obvious truth I see? Get over your damn self, homes. There is no “benefit” or “personal wet dreams” when there’s this thing called taking accountability for your own actions and taking some form of responsibility. I’m just being real here. If you know how to get to school or work on time, every day, every year, then you should know how your trains and buses function. Your boss at work does not care if the train or the bus is late. If he or she can get to work on time, so can you. There’s this thing called planning ahead - Plan B.  The  website also does not exist just because. It exists for a reason.

For example, if the printed schedules didn’t mean a thing to the agency, they would have never even posted them from the beginning. Trains don’t just show up whenever the agency wants them to. Everything has a set schedule for a reason.

Another example, if you know you gotta study harder for state regents exams while you’re in high school, do so. Because tutoring is not always available. If so, ask for help if you really feel you need. Speaking from personal experience.

Case and point. If you cannot help yourself, how do you expect anyone else to help you?

You're up in arms about something inconsequential at worst. (Announcement length doesn't impact dwells, and while some know where they're going and how trains normally operate, not everyone does, especially since maps can be confusing to some. This is the main reason why the MTA didn't go forward with the shorter announcements, though the fact that very few R142s had them did nothing to help.)

This has everything to do with personal wet dreams.

[Jemorie]

1 hour ago, Lex said:

You're up in arms about something inconsequential at worst. (Announcement length doesn't impact dwells, and while some know where they're going and how trains normally operate, not everyone does, especially since maps can be confusing to some. This is the main reason why the MTA didn't go forward with the shorter announcements, though the fact that very few R142s had them did nothing to help.)

This has everything to do with personal wet dreams.

If you honestly think all this is just personal wet dreams, then I’m sorry to say that you’re just one of those typical sensitive hipsters. You basically just want everything to be fed to you like a little baby and your diapers changed lol.

Once again, use your brain, kid. There’s this thing called app and the agency’s website. If you can spend so much time on your electronics, then you can have some time on your hands to download anything related to the  to know how each train and bus line function.

It’s time to take some responsibility. Use it. And that’s a major issue in today’s society. People would rather be lazy and yet some of these things they can do on their own. It doesn’t really make sense.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Jemorie

[Lex]

59 minutes ago, Jemorie said:

If you honestly think all this is just personal wet dreams, then I’m sorry to say that you’re just one of those typical sensitive hipsters. You basically just want everything to be fed to you like a little baby and your diapers changed lol.

Again, the announcements are inconsequential at worst. Again, they don't have any real impact on dwell times.

Moreover, laying the burden of unfamiliarity on the prospective passenger's shoulders is not necessarily fair, as not everyone who uses the system frequents NYC.

This is about personal wet dreams, particularly since literally no one else is clamoring for what you want.

[Jemorie]

31 minutes ago, Lex said:

Again, the announcements are inconsequential at worst. Again, they don't have any real impact on dwell times.

Moreover, laying the burden of unfamiliarity on the prospective passenger's shoulders is not necessarily fair, as not everyone who uses the system frequents NYC.

This is about personal wet dreams, particularly since literally no one else is clamoring for what you want.

Lol kid. This is a public transit-based forum. Not an official  convention. I post what’s on my mind and I have every right to. I don’t expect to get awards of candy or even weed lol.

You can continue making the same lame ass excuses to boost your ego and shoving the “personal wet dreams” titty fit attack down my throat all you want, it is still not going to change my opinion at the end of the day. You’re just making yourself more of a smart ass fool who is unwilling to learn anything and expect a helping hand from even the most simple stuff like automated announcements to tell you what your train is doing and all. Like...are you disabled or something? Do you have an eye disorder or a hearing disorder? Or what? You act like I’m trying to make the announcements to the ones like they tested out years ago (ex.  Express to the Bronx. Next stop. Union Square.) and that is certainly not my intention at all. Re-read and ruminate.

Where in my posts did they say that announcements have an impact on dwell times?  The whole point is the  fixing stuff that aren’t even broken. And yet they can’t even spend money on what really needs to be fixed. Did you know, for instance, that the northbound  announcements do not use the word “local” at all whatsoever? Yet riders don’t complain and are able to properly adjust more easily? Same with some of the IRT announcements in the NTTs that don’t even use the word “local” like the northbound  in Brooklyn.

Prior to the countdown clocks coming about, riders knew what was working and what wasn’t, yet still manage to adjust accordingly. And you sit here saying that shorting some of the announcements and ridding the word “local” is going to affect the riders? Don’t make me laugh. I think almost everything I’m saying to you just slipped past your head and took them with a grain of salt but whatever. Hence your weak “personal wet dreams” insult lol. I find that to be a pretty stereotypical comment by the way, acting like you know me personally outside of here. Nope. Try again.

Anywho, perhaps I’ve said all I can. And it’s called New York City Subway for a reason. Not Tourist City Subway. Lol. Those who are just visiting the city and its subway can ask  employees questions on where to go and about.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Jemorie

[RR503]

19 hours ago, Lex said:

Realistically, who benefits from going through with this?

Shortening announcements is a totally valid proposal -- so valid that the pre-Byford MTA went so far as to test them. They are, in fact, the lower limit on dwell times at less crowded stations; there is an observable difference between old and new-tech train performance on such segments. We should definitely strive for clarity as well as concision, but I for one think there's plenty of room for improvement given that the shorter announcements spoken by conductors (when audible) have served the riding public quite well for years. 

[4 via Mosholu]

On 8/12/2019 at 9:08 PM, Jemorie said:

Guess what I wish for the  to do for some of the NTT announcements? Lol.

1. Restore the original "This is a Manhattan-bound  train" announcement from Catherine for southbound service in Queens and northbound service in Brooklyn (except for 59 St, 36 St, and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, where they should use the "This is a Manhattan-bound  express train" announcement instead; also use the "This is a Coney Island-bound  express train" announcement going southbound at Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr and 36 St).

2. Remove the word "local" from all NTT announcements or in general just get rid of any NTT announcement that has to use/do with the word "local" in them (ex. restore the older "This is a Manhattan-bound  train" announcement in Brooklyn").

3. Restore the original  train announcements instead of the mixed mishaps we get now.

4. Shorten some of the current long winded ass announcements (ex. "This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train" instead of "This is a Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue-bound  local/  express; "This is a Coney Island-bound  train" instead of "This is a Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue-bound  local train).

5. Have every line's NTT use only one announcer instead of multiple announcers at once.

6. Eliminate the SBS announcements; they're bus routes like any other anyway, so why bother? It also caused some of the LED signs get screwed I think (case and point, the "7 AV LOC", "LEXINGTON AV LOC", "EASTERN PKWY LOC", etc I've noticed on the R142s and R142As).

For #1, I think they wanted to make Broadway completely voiced by the other Thompson (Campion). But that was mostly discarded later, mostly keeping Cowdery for the and trains.

For #2, this should be standard for the normally local portions of each line and the night and weekend locals.

For #3, I never knew the reason why the original program was ditched in favor of a mix of announcers, though I prefer the other Thompson doing all of these announcements

For #4, there was a reason why that had to be done for the Brooklyn IRT to the Bush, though I would prefer they only have the Broadway and Sixth Avenue BMT/IND based express lines heading south to just say Coney Island bound train or train out of respect for the former practice calling it after the neighborhood. What about if Campion announced it as Jamaica Center bound whenever it needs to go to Jamaica Center? There's a reason why she says Parsons Archer as well on that announcement. In fact, she should be doing that complete announcement rush; Cowdery's been doing shorter ones for a while, only doing it complete for the train via Sixth Avenue.

For #5, there are announcers that do announcements by trunk; Ettinger does Lexington and Thompson Broadway - 7th Avenue. The other announcers (Cowdery, Bergen, Mitchell, Pellet, and Campion) are a special case; Pellet even did announcements for the train to and via Whitehall at one point, the last new set he did was the train transfers at Junction Boulevard and Willets Point, including Main Street and 111th/New York Hall of Science and the transfers to the train at 63rd and Lexington on the , , , , , , and trains coinciding with the return of the train on weekdays (part of why on the Lexington and Broadway programs mentioned, the service signs were extended). The shortenings done right were for 238 (as Nereid Av), Dyre, Utica, Main St, and 34-Hudson. They even had the destination sign extended to scroll for a while for Queens Blvd Express, as well as an destination sign to Broadway Junction. There were a few others done for scrolling like the train for Broadway - 4 Av Express and the train for 59 St-Broadway Local (though it should have been 60 St, since the transfer platform has always been on 60 St).

For #6, the Select+ announcements have every right to be there, though I like how there are original Select+ announcements for the Bx12 (by Pellet), M15/16/34 (by Campion), and Bx41/B44/Q44/SI79 (by Cowdery). Those types of complete announcements are what they should continue to aim for. The shortened announcements on other ones created after the initial list before the M14 via Avenues A and D by Mitchell (which was complete), they came from a failed experiment to test shorter announcements for the train and train. There were two Select+ announcements for the Bx41 and the Q44 that could have been used for the two aforementioned lines, but they were butchered into the shorter ones for some reason, particularly for the train. I like how they fixed the train's destination sign to be 7 Av Express and 7 Av Local. The other one for Lexington, they should have at least left the Local signage alone because that was how it initially appeared; I didn't like the fact that they had the LCL destination sign before, but I really thought they could not extend the wording for Express on Lexington before the Clark Street Closure. Now I know that Express wording from inside the interior digital signage looked very bad on the R142 due to the enormous spacing that existed earlier that was never fixed among other bugs, but not so much on the R142 by Kawasaki as the spacing was evened out right from the start. They even left the Bronx - Lex Av Express and Local for the train alone because it was better inside that aforementioned area. The LOC for Lexington Avenue Local is silly at best. I guess what I don't understand is why at multiple stops before the destination stop on the IRT mainline (except for the train and the 42nd Street ), they removed any mention of the destination stop, but the one announcement that needs to be fixed is the long gap announcement at 59th Street.

[Savion Powers]

surely it's Cathrine or Kathleen right? I mean who else is that good? Jessica and Diane sound fine but, Kathleen or Cathrine is the best.

[Savion Powers]

14 hours ago, Savion Powers said:

surely it's Cathrine or Kathleen right? I mean who else is that good? Jessica and Diane sound fine but, Kathleen or Cathrine is the best.

Full ranking:

 and some of the - Kathleen is the best announcer, her only flaw is that the  overuses her with the R179s and R211s. She speaks fast, but that's usually a good thing with the subway.

- The best Cathrine announcements, one of my favorite "the next stop is", the 179th St bound announcements sound terrible though.

- Some announcements voiced by Cathrine announcements are too chipper, these are... The  have a weird low voice coupled with the  "the next stop is" and it definitely sounds weird

 Dianne has a really calming voice

 Bring Jessica back to Lexington. I love these announcements except for "the next stop is", i think she should have kept the original one from 2002 which can be found here: 

- Cathrine, Kathleen and Annie all in one announcement, no. just no. I think that Annie Bergen should do the whole thing except for the updated "This is a 34th Street- Hudson Yards bound  train" , the updated Court Sq and Mets Willets Point. Charlie can do the transfers

- Cathrine sounds half dead on these lines

 and - this "the next stop is" just drags this way down, and  rank higher than the  than the , the  being my least favorite.

For countdown clock announcements

Bernie Wagenblast-  the best

Caroline Hopkins- word vomit, unnecessary pauses, just weird.

I probably forgot a bunch of lines

[Savion Powers]

On 7/2/2019 at 7:22 PM, Next Train Announcer said:

Thanks for the nice words about my announcements! I understand some of my safety announcements are now being heard in 7 line stations.

Good for you!

[Savion Powers]

4 minutes ago, Savion Powers said:

I probably forgot a bunch of lines

Oh, Velina Michell, worst one ever. Get a better mic and announce instead of talk

[Savion Powers]

On 8/13/2019 at 10:09 AM, Jemorie said:

I repeat...I want the NTT announcements on the  and   southbound in Brooklyn to say “This is a Flatbush Avenue-bound  /  train” (express for the  at Borough Hall, Nevins, and Atlantic). Same for the Coney Island-bound   and  in Brooklyn. Not this long winded ass announcement stuff.

I've spliced this (however I cut it to "This is a Brooklyn College bound 2/5 train") https://clipchamp.com/watch/JEoAssKFZXr