Sounds like another subway nuisance!
Straphangers already struggling to hear service updates over the roar of the subway will soon have to put up with paid commercials blaring through the same speakers — in the latest cash-grab from the flailing agency.
The MTA is rolling out a new “Station Audio Advertisements” pilot in June, which will turn select subway and commuter rail stations into test labs for paid 30‑second ads that can play as often as once every 10 minutes, according to an agency memo.
The noisy intrusion is the latest disruption to commuters’ serenity as commercialization seeps into every aspect of New Yorkers’ daily routines — even though the MTA barely makes any money from ads.
Officials insist the spots will be capped at 75 decibels and barred from mimicking alarms, emergencies or official announcements, though a volume pledge from the MTA is a tough sell.
In 2021, a roaring “Lion King” platform ad the MTA claimed was aimed at 78 decibels was measured by The Post at a staggering 99 decibels.
Only audio advertisements for media, entertainment and sports will be allowed at first, and any ad that could be mistaken for an MTA message is forbidden.
The fine print did not calm one critic who showed up at Thursday’s board meeting clutching a copy of the dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” and comparing the subway soundscape to propaganda loudspeakers in the book.
“They are playing ads through the same speakers that provide service updates,” Aiki Orcar raged, arguing audio advertising would “degrade the passenger’s experience to raise revenue a small fraction of a percent.” He begged board members to squash the pilot.
“I’m asking for someone to step in and say audio advertising is a step too far,” Orcar said.
The MTA insisted in its document that riders would have a say before the program is made permanent or expanded.
“The MTA’s assessment of the future viability of a Station Audio Advertisements program will be affected by the reaction of its ridership,” the memo stated, and stressed that advertisers should remember the system is full of kids and riders from “a wide diversity of cultural backgrounds.”
MTA Chair Janno Lieber seemed to not have heard about the program to test audio ads when a Post reporter asked him about it after the MTA board meeting Wednesday.
“Tell me more about it because I don’t know about it,” Lieber snapped before pulling out his phone and looking at it.
He then said the MTA will use customer surveys to gauge riders’ opinions of the subway ads.
“We’ll be adding a question to those customer surveys, and we’ll do direct interactions with customers who are experiencing those ads as part of our regular customer outreach process,” Lieber said.
Two MTA spokespersons did not respond to The Post’s inquiries about how much ad revenue the MTA generates or if the MTA has any plans to expand the audio ads to train cars.
The MTA already floods riders with visual ads and celebrity‑voiced announcements, yet the revenue from all that marketing is such a slim slice of the MTA’s finances that it didn’t even appear as a distinct line in the agency’s $21 billion operating plan for 2026.
An AMNY report last year said the MTA expected to earn a mere $175 million from all of its advertising in 2025, less than 1% of its massive $21 billion operating budget — leaving Orcar to wonder about the point of testing more ads.
“While audio ads play, the MTA is a place that is entirely hostile to other thoughts,” Orcar said.
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