Following a barrage of complaints on blogs and social media posts, MTA will be releasing a series of ads in early 2015 aimed at encouraging common courtesy among passengers on the train. The “Courtesy Counts, Manners Make a Better Ride” campaign will include ads that say “Dude…Stop the Spread, Please: It’s a Space Issue” and “It’s a Subway Car, Not a Dining Car.” Subway riders can expect to see the new signs as early as January, and they will be placed in commuter railroads and buses in February.
But will the signs effectively curb manspreading? Earlier this week, New York Times reporter Emma G. Fitzsimmons interviewed subway riders about the forthcoming ads, and several of the men grumbled about the complaints. One rider said he “was not going to cross my legs like ladies do,” while others saw the characteristic male slouch as an “unalienable right.”
These “rights,” which some view as an issue of comfort (and, for others, one of power), may have to give way to necessity: Overcrowding on the trains is due to surging of New York City’s population. According to recent reports, subway riding rates are at an all-time high. A recent Reuters report revealed that up to 6.1 million people rode the trains this past September, up from the previous record of 5.9 million rides in 2013.