Why is the MTA making changes to it's PSA Announcements on their Buses

[RSMG106]

When I was at least 3 years old, I remember riding the 1997 New Flyer D60HF #1024 on the M102, back when the 100th Street Depot was reopened. I was on the bus, when all of a sudden, I hear an voice from the speakers about priority seating. At first I thought it was the bus operator, but then later on, I discovered that those were PSA announcements. To this day, I heard the female voice, in which I don't know who provided that PSA, and it still being used on all buses as an alternative PSA. When the newer and worst Orion VII NG Hybrids came along, I heard new things about the voices. Firstly, it was the first order to feature the all new "Please Exit Through The Rear Door", voice when the Stop Requested button was pressed, or the yellow cord was pulled. And secondly, they had all new PSAs done by two male voices and one female voice who also provided both "Thanking for riding the MTA", and a violation of assaulting an bus operator. It seems pretty amazing to hear these new voices, especially the Vapor CLASS door systems voice. However, in the beginning of 2018, with the change from Ladies and Gentlemen, to more gender neutral announcements, the voices had an impact on the buses as well. The biggest complaint that I had with the change, is that most of the original PSAs were either redone by a new male voice, or a new female voice. The male voice is especially annoying because for some weird reason, he provided the priority seating PSA, even though the old PSA recording was still there, playing it occasionally, and also replaced the female voice that explained the violation for assaulting an bus operator. I understand these changes, and it appeals to more of an gender neutral change for everyone to understand, but it makes wonder, how much changes can the MTA do in the 2020s. Also, the on-board announcements, can be a bit lazy, since that it's done by a Text to Speech Siri for buses that have On-Board Displays. So that it all for this question.

Edited November 2, 2019 by RSMG106

[Deucey]

I once took a complaint from someone mad about the paint scheme Kaiser Permanente uses on their medical office buildings in Northern California.

Since that day in 2007, I had not been witness to such an Archie Bunker-esque complaint until I read this in it’s entirety.

[RSMG106]

23 minutes ago, Deucey said:

I once took a complaint from someone mad about the paint scheme Kaiser Permanente uses on their medical office buildings in Northern California.

Since that day in 2007, I had not been witness to such an Archie Bunker-esque complaint until I read this in it’s entirety.

Okay, I understand that I made a complaint that is stupid, but this is my opinion, and I can definitely understand that the MTA will not do anything about it.

[Deucey]

15 hours ago, RSMG106 said:

Okay, I understand that I made a complaint that is stupid, but this is my opinion, and I can definitely understand that the MTA will not do anything about it.

Just because you have an opinion doesn’t mean everyone needs to hear it.

Free speech - or, the prohibition on the government’s ability to restrict freedom of expression, is the right. Being heard and/or not being ridiculed for expressing things is not.

[trainfan22]

TBH I don't think OP complaint is that bad, the complaints about NTT announcements in the subway subforum is just as silly and nobody says anything so...

 

[MHV9218]

One thing is for sure – the on-board stop and transfer announcements suck. Text-to-speech is lousy and obnoxious, and the operators making ADAs did a much better job.

[paulrivera]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

One thing is for sure – the on-board stop and transfer announcements suck. Text-to-speech is lousy and obnoxious, and the operators making ADAs did a much better job.

“Transfers available to Bx12, and Bx12 Plus”

[QM1to6Ave]

4 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

One thing is for sure – the on-board stop and transfer announcements suck. Text-to-speech is lousy and obnoxious, and the operators making ADAs did a much better job.

"This is a Q46 to Leeeej Hospital."

I don't know how no one has fixed these terrible text-to-speech announcements. And that is besides for all of the errors in terms of listed transfers, etc on the new screens. 

[Union Tpke]

11 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

One thing is for sure – the on-board stop and transfer announcements suck. Text-to-speech is lousy and obnoxious, and the operators making ADAs did a much better job.

The announcements on the Q46 can't pronounce CR in 78th Crescent.

[DetSMART45]

A lot of the errors could be avoided if there was proper "proofreading" before announcements go active. For example, one crosstown route (the 760) terminates weekdays at 13 Mile Rd/Telegraph Rd, and route 275--Telegraph reads off the transfer. On Saturdays, the 760 terminates two miles to the east, yet the 275 Saturday reads off the transfer. Simple boo-boo? Hardly -- the 760 has NEVER gone to Telegraph on Saturday in its long existence. Yet somehow this happens through two factors: a] The lack of appropriate "proofreading" when telling the system what to do, via b] People who DON'T USE the system to begin with.

The SMART Clever system also allows operators to run a PSA "on demand" via the console. The most famous one being, "Please avoid loud cell phone conversations, and the use of obscene or abusive language." Had one operator push that THREE TIMES and finally had to do a "HEY! Young lady, quiet down!" -- and the offender (of about 23) was in the ADA seats behind the operator. But the entire bus knew her business.

[Lawrence St]

You should hear the announcements on the orion VII's when they're running on manhattan SBS routes.

[paulrivera]

14 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

"This is a Q46 to Leeeej Hospital."

I don't know how no one has fixed these terrible text-to-speech announcements. And that is besides for all of the errors in terms of listed transfers, etc on the new screens. 

To their credit, they’ve fixed some of the Bronx errors.

”Next stop: East Fordham Road and Websterav. Transfer available to Harlem, NeHave...” was fixed to “Webster Avenue” and “Metro-North” respectively within the last couple weeks.