The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority launched an initiative last week to promote courteous behavior from the tens of thousands of mass transit passengers who ride the T each day.
“General Manager Jonathan Davis, a daily MBTA user, asked the T’s Marketing Department to develop a new campaign to encourage courteous and polite behavior on trains and buses,” said MBTA spokesperson Lydia Rivera in an email.
The result of Davis’s inquiry is five advertisements depicting the snippet of a fictional newspaper with tongue-in-cheek headlines such as, “Woman covers mouth while sneezing!” and “Crowd waits patiently while others exit the train!”
The ads had messages such as “Courtesy shouldn’t be big news. Please, simply do the right thing.”
The posters are to be posted this week inside of buses and subway cars, Rivera said.
Boston University School of Hospitality Administration senior Dana Laustsen said she found the ads relevant and hoped people would pay attention.
“I like the fact that they included letting people off in the ads,” Laustsen said. “I think it’s definitely a place people could improve.”
Laustsen was with her sister, who had been visiting for the weekend, at the Babcock Street T station Sunday afternoon. She said she found no large issue with courtesy on the MBTA while in Boston.
Following the MBTA’s courtesy ad announcement, Boston.com launched a forum, “Have you experienced discourtesy on the MBTA?” on which readers can share stories about experiences on the mass transit services.
The site shows 99 different submissions from readers throughout the Hub, cursing everything from people with bad hygiene, loud music and students with backpacks, to stories of pregnant women not being offered seats.
A submission on the site from Sara of Natick echoed another popular sentiment.
“If the MBTA wants courtesy they should get to work on making sure every train isn’t packed to the breaking point with passengers – perpetually late – and clean their cars every once in 10 years,” Sara said. “Then maybe people would be in a better mood.”
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