Gone are the days when subway announcements sounded as if they were spoken from Charlie Brown’s teacher. A new survey by the Straphangers Campaign found a majority of delay and disruption announcements, 59 percent, to be “clear and accurate” for the time since 1997.
“We found that transit officials are doing a better job keeping riders informed,” said Straphangers Campaign Field Organizer Jason Chin-Fatt.
When it came to basic announcements — made at or between stops and includes the station, any transfers, destination, etc. — 85 percent were clear and accurate, the survey found.
The previous 10 surveys by the organization found a majority of the announcements to be garbled or incorrect; only 40 percent of notifications in 2010 were rated as good.
The No. 4 line produced the clearest and most accurate basic announcements, earning a 100 percent rating. The L, N, Q, and No. 6 rounded out the top five, all earning 99 percent ratings.
Riders of the R suffered through the worst basic announcements — just 56 percent were rated clear and accurate.
The lines with the most garbled notices were the C, B and R train — each having at least 25 percent of announcements as inaudible.
The 2012 survey was conducted between January 17 and April 29.
