MTA: Stop saying ‘Ladies and gentlemen’
MTA bans gendered language in subway bulletins
Stand clear of gender designations, please!
The MTA is taking political correctness to new heights — with a directive to all subway personnel to no longer address riders as “ladies and gentleman.”
A bulletin sent out six days ago to all NYC Transit workers tells them to immediately replace that salutation in their announcements with a list of acceptable words, like “passengers,” “riders,” or “everyone.”
“Please don’t use any greeting other than these,” the memo says.
Conductors on newer trains with automated announcements are supposed to override the prerecorded message with the updated PC ones until the agency can get them changed out.
The bulletin warns workers that line managers and train service supervisors will be monitoring them to make sure they don’t slip and use the verboten phrase.
The newly crafted messages will cover regular service announcements, delays and rider behavior.
For example, when the trains stop at stations, conductors should now say, “Help keep trains moving — let people leave the train before you get on, and please don’t hold doors open,” or “The train is very crowded, please don’t block the doors.”
“They are trying to be politically correct,” said station worker and Transport Workers Union Local 100 member Anthony Staley. “They are acknowledging that they have some transgender riders. They don’t want to offend anyone.”
The “ladies and gentleman” greeting hasn’t been completely scrubbed from the system just yet. At the Sixth Avenue platform of the L train on Wednesday afternoon, the automated message still said, “Ladies and gentleman, the next L train is now arriving on the Eighth Avenue-bound track.”
The MTA isn’t the only transit agency to ditch the phrase. The London Underground scrubbed the words from passenger communication vocabulary this summer in a move to be more gender neutral.
Some New York riders say they are glad for the move away from gendered language.
“As the world is evolving, we’re being more sensitive to all people,” said 43-year-old Mark Taylor. “I don’t think it’s a negative thing.”
Others think the MTA’s political correctness is a little over the top.
“I think we’re going a little overboard with all that stuff today,” said Bob McRae, 58. “I don’t like it. ‘Ladies and gentlemen’ was fine.”
An MTA spokesman said that the move was aimed at being more inclusive to those who don’t identify with a specific gender.
The phrase change is a part of a larger MTA directive to make announcements in “more human and plain language,” according to the bulletin.