View of New York City from the 14th Floor of Baruch Vertical Campus

Linguistic Landscape Project

The signs of the New York City subway

Introduction

New York City residents have multiple transit options available to them, from their own cars or bicycles to taxis and rideshare services. If someone chooses to use public transportation, though, an affordable option for most is the subway, operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The subway expands to all five of New York City’s boroughs, offering train transit for a fare of $2.90 (as of November 2024). The vastness and affordability of this system, however, means that it is used a lot– over a billion rides, in fact, in 2023 alone according to the MTA’s own data.

NYC Subway Map (MTA)

With so many riders, there is a desperate need for information… That’s where signs come in. I see them all the time, and it is almost guaranteed that you have. Information, while very important, is not the only thing that signs portray. To its many riders, the subway signs also inspire them to support businesses and be surrounded by creativity.  To sum it up, signs provide: 

  1. Space for businesses to advertise
  2. An opportunity for art to be showcased in a busy city
  3. Information to keep riders up-to-date and safe

I’ll be focusing on the trains I take going to school, the D and 6, but these themes apply to many other lines as well.

Advertisements

Figure 1
Figure 2

From travel and mental health support in Figures 1 and 2 (seen above) to food, entertainment, and clothing in Figures 3, 4, and 5 respectively (found below), we can see the sheer amount of variety in these advertisements (ads). This is worth mentioning because advertisers want to appeal to many different audiences— many of which use the subway. Some, like Figures 1 and 4, use large font sizes to attract attention. Others use humorous elements like Figure 2’s joking about food and Figure 3’s Statue of Liberty made of food. To achieve their goals in advertising, subway advertisers spend between $5,000 to $60,000+ to reach these audiences, according to an advertising company. Their messages can be seen all over the vast subway system, with hard-to-miss placement; it is very difficult to be oblivious to advertisements. On my commute, I see advertisements:

  • On train walls, both inside and out (see Figures 1, 3, and 5)
  • Lining the train lights (see Figure 2)
  • At the station (see Figure 4)
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

With so many advertisements placed all over, a bored train rider (like me) can read the ads while waiting for their train at the station, then go onto the train and view even more advertisements, and see, again, more of them when they exit to their destination. They might seem obnoxious, but they’re working. OUTFRONT, an advertising company, finds that “MTA advertising goes beyond impressions; it prompts actions” with 67% taking “action after seeing a digital transit ad” and 42% interacting “with [an] MTA subway ad.” With the effectiveness of advertising on the New York City subway, it’s clear why the ads are abundant: seeing ads gives subway riders information on the business that, in turn, entices people to interact with them.

Summing it up, the ads all have the effect of selling products and services to New York subway riders. The use of large font, popular endorsements, or humor are all found in the examples provided, allowing the advertisers to entice consumers into spending money with them.

Art

Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Why include art? Well, to start, New York has led “the global art market for most of the last 50 years” according to The Independent, which makes art being found in the subway system no surprise. While not always obvious, and with some stations lagging behind others, subway riders can find themselves staring at art pieces during their daily commutes.

Historically, I have seen art in two main spots in the subway system: the stations themselves and inside the trains. But, the level of detail vastly depends on where you are. Comparing the Spring Street station in Figure 6 to the Broadway station in Figure 7, we see the extra details in the tiling surrounding the words in Spring Street versus the simple two-toned blue and white tiles surrounding Broadway in Figure 7. Not only are detailed tile mosaics found at some stations, but elaborate signs can be an interesting change from the usual subway design language. Bleecker Street in Figure 9 is a perfect example of how art, while sometimes ignored, is commonplace in New York City, and isn’t lost when riding the subway. Its interesting design paired with a large, slightly different font allows it to stand out from other subway station signs.

So, the varying levels of art have the effect of making the subway stations feel less “cookie cutter” and more recognizable. Certain designs can also be very useful in knowing where you are. Rather than reading a sign, I can look at the themes at certain stations and know where I am (Bleecker Street being an easy example of that).

Figure 9 (NYU Local)

Visual art, as I have been discussing, is found across the subway system, whether it is elaborate and detailed or not. However, a more rare form of subway art is the poems found on some trains and stations. The poem, Everything (Figure 8), is just one of “more than 200 poems or excerpts” in the MTA’s Poetry in Motion campaign. The poems combine words with visual art to create a piece that stands out from the sea of advertisements (mentioned earlier in this post) and informational signs. Visual and textual forms of artwork make the subway a more interesting place than it otherwise would be– something I’m grateful for. It gives me something to read and study, apart from the sea of advertisements I talked about earlier. They make the subway (both the stations and trains themselves) feel less bland, especially with the variety of styles.

Having the important job of transporting so many people each day, the subway relies on informational signs to communicate with its riders. Information is a very broad category, though. To narrow it down, I’ll separate them into three categories: warnings and comfort, community updates, and directions.

Information: Warnings and Comfort

For rider safety, the MTA installs some signs on all trains, no matter the line.

All New York City trains are run on electricity, with up to 70% of it coming from renewable sources. To receive the power, train tracks have a separate, third rail, solely used for electrical power. Trains come in contact with this rail and thus the train is powered. To ensure safety, Figure 11 shows one of many types of signs emphasizing the danger of that third rail, which provides 600 volts at 10,000 amps (easily causing death to those who touch it), according to an NYC transit forum poster.

Also for safety, doors like the ones shown in Figure 12 have simplistic signs stating “Do not hold doors” and “Do not lean on door” to prevent a possible injury. Unaware riders leaning on the doors may fall when the doors open at a station. Not only can a closing door hurt you if you try to hold it open, but holding a door creates an inconvenience for other riders too who must wait now wait for you.

Figure 13 is another abundant sign found within subway trains. It shows the word “Please” with images of three actions the MTA would prefer riders not to engage in: smoking, littering, and excessive noisemaking.

  • Smoking, firstly, disrupts the comfort of other passengers because of the limited ventilation available, especially when trains are crowded. Smoking is also known to be dangerous, not only to the smoker themselves but to others around them via second-hand smoke. This dangerous and inconveniencing action warrants a fine of $50.
  • Littering creates a dirty environment, whether on the train or on the platform. For the comfort of others, the MTA encourages the use of its garbage cans with a littering fine of $100.
  • Finally, excessive noisemaking is simply unnecessary and disrupts the commute of others. Especially with all the private audio options available today, there is simply no reason to be loud. In my experience, this is the rule that the most amount of people abide by.

The use of signs and their common themes of warnings and comfort, therefore, once again allows the MTA to communicate the rules of the subway system and ensure both rider safety (in the form of warnings) and rider comfort (in the form of prohibition signs and possible monetary fines). Had these signs been missing, it not have been clear that these specific actions are risks with riding the subway (especially with the third rail mentioned above, which looks very similar to an ordinary railroad track).

Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15

Information: Directions

Possibly the simplest to explain, directions for using the subway are integral to helping people navigate it. Knowing where you currently are, what trains or buses you can transfer to, or how to get to your destination are all ways that directional signs help transit riders.

Figure 14 displays a planned work sign, which has information in English and Spanish, with details such as affected train lines, dates, times, and (helpfully) alternative routes. Piggybacking on this sign, the one found in Figure 15 has a QR code and text instructing users to scan it for live information. This live information makes it simple to know when a train is going to come and other directional information. Pairing these signs together has the effect of making commuting an easier task for riders. I appreciate it, MTA.

Seen in the images below are more examples of signs to help achieve this effect of making commuting easy:

  1. Figure 16 highlights a sign with information as to what direction the train is heading and how it will get there. In this case, the train is going downtown towards Brooklyn, crossing over the Manhattan Bridge to get there.
  2. Figure 17 shows a station post with the name of the station and the trains serviced on that specific platform. This is a useful sign to have because it allows a person to glance and see if they are on the correct platform going to the correct destination.
  3. On all trains are signs designating the line it runs on and the destination. Figure 18, for example, shows an F train, running locally on the Culver line. Like with the other two examples, the goal of this is to allow commuters to see directional information
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18

Having information available in a large-sized and clearly legible font is important for keeping the system easily navigable. Whether it’s a veteran subway rider or someone’s first day in New York, the signs give enough information to keep someone from getting lost. This is especially important for the latter demographic- people who are new to New York’s subway. Combining these signs with the subway map and, if needed, online resources, the subway goes from seeming confusing and daunting to manageable. Thanks, signs.

Language

As a short note, all the signs featured have English as their primary or sole language. There is an expectation that using English is effective enough for the MTA to get their information, artwork, or many advertisements across to the general subway user. Unfortunately, this is leaving out about 1.8 million New Yorkers who are not proficient in this language. I appreciate that for abnormal services, like the planned work in Figure 14 (above), there is an additional language. And, with the rise of technology like smartphones, the written language in signs may not be too big of an issue because the information can be translated to whatever language they need.

Summary

The signs found in the subway allow:

  • the MTA and other businesses to make money through advertising
  • art to flourish in an environment that so many people visit
  • information (both warnings and directions) to be easily available

Their abundance makes it easy for subway riders to see them every time they utilize New York City’s train transit system, while not detracting from its primary goal of, well, transit. Advertising provides a platform for the MTA to make money selling advertising space, while businesses can reach a large, broad audience. Art allows stations to stand out from one another and fits in with New York City’s rich art history. Finally, and most importantly, informational signs let riders be aware of where they are going while remaining safe on the subway. Given these themes, the use of language in them has the effect of keeping the New York City subway functional yet not boring. The city easily could have had very minimalistic stations with minimal effort in terms of the amount of signage they put up; they could have simply put maps of the system, minimal directional signs, and left riders to themselves. Providing a variety of signs, both relating to the subway and not, provides a certain (even if small) level of intrigue to the system.