MTA brings celebrity voices to NYC transit announcements

Riders on New York City subways and buses are getting an earful, thanks to some hometown voices

NY--Transit-New York Voices (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press)

Riders on New York City subways and buses are getting an earful, thanks to some famous hometown voices.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday launched a campaign that has celebrities including Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg and Awkwafina making the announcements heard at subway stations, on trains and buses.

The MTA said the announcements will run for at least a month, and highlight the importance of mask-wearing and other coronavirus pandemic safety measures.

“As we start to look beyond the pandemic, we hope this new set of announcements will remind our customers of what makes New York so special," said interim New York City Transit president Sarah Feinberg in a statement.

The scripts were written in a collaboration between the MTA and Nico Heller, better known under his social media personality of @newyorknico, and the celebrities were encouraged to put their own takes on them as well, the MTA said.