NY Transit Museum exhibit to explore ‘Transit Etiquette or: How I Learned to Stop Spitting and Step Aside in 25 Languages’
Opening March 12 at Grand Central Terminal
Given the nature of urban mass transit — small spaces shared with perfect strangers and everyone in a rush — it is no surprise that transit agencies have, from their very beginnings, encouraged passengers to be safe, clean and well-behaved. No matter if it is 1916, 1956 or 2016, whether in Toronto, New York or Tokyo, the inappropriate behaviors ubiquitous to mass transit have remained remarkably consistent and have annoyed commuters throughout the world for more than a century.
Opening March 12, the New York Transit Museum’s newest exhibition “Transit Etiquette or: How I Learned to Stop Spitting and Step Aside in 25 Languages” explores the creative and engaging visuals and broad scope of humor that transit agencies in the U.S. and abroad have used to cajole and scold passengers into better behavior.
Whether they are asking people not to smoke, to be safe at the edge of the platform or to throw away their trash, the graphic posters and videos from all over the world truly speak to everyone, their message loud and clear with no translation necessary. “Transit Etiquette or: How I Learned to Stop Spitting and Step Aside in 25 Languages” includes etiquette campaign posters and videos from cities dotting the globe including Barcelona, Brussels, Chicago, London, Madrid, New York, Philadelphia, Rio de Janiero, Taipei, Tokyo and more.