NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York City’s subway system returned to 24-hour service this week, and to encourage people to utilize mass transit again, the MTA has teamed up with Spotify.
Starting today, New Yorkers can listen to music playlists curated by the MTA, as part of the new #TaketheTrain and #TaketheBus campaign.
“After a year of unprecedented challenges, we’re thrilled to welcome back customers to the cleanest system ever,” said Sarah Meyer, the MTA’s Chief Customer Officer. "These playlists are a small but heartfelt gesture of gratitude to our returning customers. We’re glad to have you back and we hope you enjoy the ride.”
There are five playlists, each with a different theme, with music spanning a wide array of genres and decades. They are:
“Curated by Railfans” – The MTA asked its Instagram followers for their favorite songs to listen to while riding the rails.
“Songs for Your First Ride Back” – Hop on board and listen to these songs whether it’s your first ride of the week or your first ride back since the pandemic began.
“Executive Session” – This playlist is composed of favorite songs of the MTA agency presidents.
“Songs to Zone Out To:” – Use your commute time to relax and regroup with this chill out playlist.
“Made in New York” – Songs from your favorite native New Yorkers.
WEB EXTRA: Listen to the Spotify playlists
The launch of the playlists coincides with an upward trend in the number of commuters on the subways, buses and commuter trains every day.
In fact, the MTA on Friday saw post-pandemic records on the subway with 2,265,489 trips, on Long Island Rail Road with 104,885 trips and on Metro-North with 85,684 trips that day.
The combined number of subway and bus passengers also reached 2.3 million passengers for the first time since the start of the pandemic a year ago, the agency said.
The MTA is hopeful that the numbers will only continue to trend upwards as more and more people get vaccinated and return to the transit system.
"This has been a year of unprecedented and unexpected challenges, but we are at a turning point of the pandemic," said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye. "With more than half of New York adults vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccination and positive cases down dramatically from just a few months ago, it's clear that New York's comeback has begun in earnest. The city's subways and buses along with our commuter rails are cleaner than ever before and prepared to welcome our riders back with safe, reliable service. We are eager to see folks back in the system again."
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