Comic book-style billboards provide a new take on the MTA’s “Ride inside, stay alive” anti-subway surfing campaign.
They tell the stories of those whose lives have been affected by subway surfing, and this time, students didn’t just record the PSA’s — they helped create them.
Ahana Chandra, a student at Stuyvesant High School, says it was a classmate’s story of a friend dying while subway surfing that really got her involved.
“Obviously, the whole class went silent. And I just couldn’t fathom that there were people who maybe going to the same school as me in the same lunch line as me, who were also subway surfing, riding on top of train cars,” she said.
After hearing the old announcements, Chandra was inspired to try making them better, even doing her own research and connecting with the MTA.
“Nearly 100 people responded, and most of them provided valuable feedback, like making the announcements more student focused and including specific statistics,” Chandra said.
Her PSA did just that, and the MTA didn’t stop there, enlisting professional BMX star and Queens native Nigel Sylvester.
“They can relate to me. You see what I do? Yes, there’s a level of thrill and adventure to it, but it’s safe and it’s controlled. And I’m a professional BMX athlete. I’ve been doing this for 15 years. So I think it’s about just telling kids, focus that energy into something positive,” Sylvester said.
The MTA says there has been one subway surfing-related death this year. The NYPD would not provide the latest numbers of injuries and arrests.
Police are using drones and deploying officers to stations with high rates of subway surfing to try to stop it. The MTA is also now testing physical interventions.
“We’re trying a number of different things to try to stop this from happening. That’s one of the pilots that we’re running. It is a circular rubber tubing that essentially would, in theory, prevent the person from being able to climb to the top of the train,” New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said.
Students think this new campaign will be more effective than the last one because it’s more relatable.
“Since it’s like a comic book and not just like, I guess like the MTA, and the authorities telling you simply not to do a trend. I feel like, you know, it mostly speaks to them,” student Camilla Perez said.
The first eight PSAs, both in Spanish and English, are launching throughout the system this week.