The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today began a new advertising campaign aimed at increasing awareness among its millions of weekly customers of travelling etiquette while using public transport.

The New York subway

The New York subway Image by HelveticaFanatic / CC BY 2.0

The courtesy campaign highlights common sense issues which people sometimes overlook – like not putting feet on seats or not clipping your nails on a bus or train. The ads also ask people to be mindful of good manners by stepping aside to let other people off first and by taking off your back pack.

Advertisements remind people about a number of things including giving you seat up to an elderly, disabled or pregnant person.

The MTA has made it clear it is only trying to address common complaints from riders.

And the New York Village Voice reports that the MTA is staging a clampdown on breakdancing, splitting and working poles on trains. Saying that poles are for safety, not someone’s latest routine, the MTA is trying to get across a message that “manners makes a better ride”.

The MTA’s 12 placards underlines the importance of “common courtesies” during trips, authority spokesman Kevin Ortiz explained.

The MTA has installed some 2,600 ads in subways cars and may extend the campaign into buses and subways’ cars.