I doubt that spending a mere two minutes taking the subway each day will cause hearing loss…if that were the case then police officers assigned to stations for longer periods would’ve probably sued someone already (unknock on wood).

Maybe if someone came along and sponsored the addition of Platform Screen Doors for lines with newer rolling stocks, that might help cut out most of the noise while waiting on platforms.

I’m getting old…. You should have been on the subway before there was air conditioning. Imagine going through a tunnel with the windows open.

I’m getting old… I hadn’t taken the subway in years mostly because I hadn’t been in NY for years. Well my flight was delayed because of rain. I knew the Belt Parkway would literally be a parking lot so I decided to take the A train into Manhattan. Spent most of the trip through Brooklyn eavesdropping on a conversation about telephone costs. When to use the cell phone instead of the landline for those toll calls to the relatives in Suffolk county etc. I then realized I was eavesdropping. Something you couldn’t do before the 70s for two reasons. The trains were so noisy you couldn’t eavesdrop. And the trains were so noisy people couldn’t have conversations to eavesdrop on…. I’m getting old….

I have to agree with that, but it would be interesting to test that assumption as well. Even if jurors are influenced by this nonsense, I worry it simply raises ‘safety’ expectations and sets up the authority to lose in cases where it can’t be shown that the announcement was played. American civil courts have earned the right to be treated as a science experiment and I think we should hold off on feel-good and easy (with hidden costs) ‘safety’ measure until it is established that there is some positive benefit, in real life or in the courtroom. (And with the play money evaporating before our eyes, I hope we may find a more effective way to close the litigious lottery!)

But if they manage to reduce the chances of NYCT losing injry lawsuits, I’m willing to tolerate them.

Generally, I’ve found that if an announcement is automated, it’s probably of little interest; if it begins with “This is an important message,” it’s certainly of little interest; and if it’s quietly mumbled and I can’t hear it over the chatting tourists at the other end of the car, it’s something I might have actually wanted to know.

They make more noise while in motion than most of the older cars, especially going around curves. The automatic announcements are loud (not so much the un-automated ones, which is kind of unfortunate, since those are the announcements that people actually need to hear). The fans are obnoxiously loud (and I’m not sure why, since the air conditioning is just as effective on the older cars). And many of the trains still screech to a stop.

Ever been to Grand Central or Union Square when four trains pull in at once, shouting their announcements in unison so that nobody can understand anything, blowing their obnoxious fans with such force that the station ceiling nearly pops out? (OK, slight hyperbole there. But only slight.) Not a pleasant experience. My eardrums much prefer the older cars.