MTBA hopes riders take little courtesies a long way

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is combating riders’ rude behavior with a new ad campaign that uses rhymes to encourage courtesy.
The campaign, which began on Monday, was set up in response to complaints MBTA general manager Daniel Grabauskas received on Write to the Top, a customer service initiative that allows T riders to voice their concerns about service, MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said.’
The rhyming campaign mimics an October 2006 initiative the MBTA employed to encourage polite behavior when it handed out hundreds of $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift certificates to riders who were courteous to their neighbors while traveling.
The current ads specifically address offering seats to the elderly or handicapped, littering, loud and excessive cell phone chatter, fare evaders and people who force their way onto trains and busses before allowing others to get off the vehicle first.
‘We want to remind people that courtesy goes a long way. It is as simple as providing your seat for a handicap person,’ Rivera said. ‘It is a two-way street. All it takes is someone to say, ‘thank you.”
Salem resident Jodi Smith said she encounters rude passengers daily and said it is a serious problem that needs to stop.
‘When there is a college kid on the green line swearing into the phone next to my 6-year-old niece saying, ‘That was the best effing party we’ve ever been to,’ it is a problem,’ Jodi Smith, founder of the etiquette group Mannersmith, said. ‘There are no citations for civil manners. I can’t go around handing out orange tickets to people.’
The campaign humor will make a bigger impression on riders, Smith said. Humor is more effective than using an accusatory tone that says ‘Don’t Be loud on your phone,’ she said.
‘Courtesy is contagious,” Smith said. ‘We all need to pay a little attention because a little respect goes a long way.’
Sargent College graduate student Brett Hutchinson said he does not see many young children on the T and therefore does not think language is a problem.
‘ ‘Some people are loud on the phone and push to get on, which is annoying, but the majority of people who ride the T are in their 20s and 30s and young adults,’ he said.
Though rude behavior may continue, it is up to the individual to try to encourage good travel etiquette by setting an example to others, said Lizzy Post, spokeswoman for the Emily Post Institute, an organization devoted to etiquette.
Post said people should be cautious when confronting someone about his or her rude behavior.
‘You don’t know who that person is,’ she said. ‘They might take the cell phone and smack you with it.’