***Also, thanks to Bernie Wagenblast for his inclusion of this post in his Transportation Communications Newsletter, as well as continued updates on the voices of other transit systems across the country. If you know of story about a voice of transit, please send them my way.
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There's a woman who greets thousands of transit riders per day in Houston. She never misses a day, and is consistent in her delivery. She greets you every morning with the same reminder: "Please tap your Q Card as you enter the bus." She reads your route numbers and crossroads, and points to key destinations along the way. She even thanks you for riding METRO. Let's just call her the METRO Lady for now.
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| Courtesy: METRO |
But in all curiosity, announcements are something that urban denizens hear every day if they utilize public transit. Riders can probably find themselves remembering phrases throughout their routes, sometimes throughout the rest of their day. You may find yourself associating a particular place or intersection with the announcement on your route. We've seen the woman behind the voice of Apple's Siri and the voice behind AOL's iconic "You've Got Mail", now let's shed some light on the voices of those who accompany riders on some of America's largest public transit and rail systems.
New York City - Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York (MTA) / The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PATH)
Charlie Pellett
New York City's transit system has many voices. One of the voices for announcements in stations and on trains is provided by Charlie Pellett, a veteran news anchor and reporter for Bloomberg Radio.
Carolyn Hopkins
Another voice in New York City MTA stations is provided by Carolyn Hopkins. Hopkins lives in Maine, and has recorded subway announcements for about 15 years. Oddly enough, this article from the New York Times City Room blog gives light to the fact that Hopkins herself has only ridden in a subway once, back in 1957! Here's another article that explains how Hopkins and colleague Jack Fox have come to be the voices of 110 airports (I'm sure you'll recognize her voice!), as well as the New York City subway system.
Bernie Wagenblast
Bernie Wagenblast, a transportation communicator, is yet another voice of New York City's subway system. He can be heard in subway stations throughout the city, providing updates on the one through six trains. Wagenblast records his announcements from the desk of his New Jersey home office.
The New York Times City Room blog had some fun with Wagenblast back in 2012, calling for fantasy subway announcements. Wagenblast recorded a selection, which can be found on the City Room blog. They included "Watch the gap, and by the way, you look marvelous, simply marvelous!", and "Wake up everybody, it's time for volleyball!" There was even a subway rap (Spitting Mad 411 Remix) submitted by Christopher Bonewitz, to which Wagenblast performed like the subway MC he is.
Here's another great clip of Wagenblast chatting with local access broadcaster Paul DeRienzo about his recordings, as well as his other radio and transportation related activities.
PATH trains in New Jersey seem to still employ manual announcements on some trains, and some conductors have especially smooth deliveries, including this announcement on a train as it terminates at Journal Square in New Jersey (system map). Other PATH announcements are still delivered by recording.
New York's subway system hasn't been exempt from mocking either. The Gothamist reported that the MTA found that only 17 percent of their station's platform announcements were audible. And, even SNL took to making fun of the issue in a January 1993 skit where Harvey Keitel and the SNL cast made an entire skit surrounding the premise of inaudible station announcements. (I've looked for the skit, and can't seem to find it anywhere online.)
Washington DC - Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA / METRO)
In 2006 Washington DC's, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced a competition to find the voice of their subway system. Just as in New York City, transit riders had complained about the inaudibility of announcements. The competition's winner was occasional transit rider Randi Miller, who was working at a Lexus dealership at the time of the competition. Miller was selected from 1,259 contestants, and as a result has been routinely recognized throughout Washington DC. Station announcements on trains are still given manually on DC's Metro.
Chicago / Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
For Chicago transit riders, Lee Crooks is a name that not many know, but whose voice they recognize and hear every day. Crooks is the voice of Chicago's CTA announcements.
Crooks records the announcements for the system's L-trains and buses. Crooks, a professional voiceover artist, has done work for some of the country's largest corporations, including McDonalds, Wrangler, Beltone, Coors, Sears, John Deere and Walgreens, among others. He auditioned for the CTA's announcement role in 1997 after imitating the announcer's voice on Walt Disney World's Monorail. In an interview Crooks shed some light to the fact that he and the CTA try to follow up to make sure that pronunciations are consistent with local dialects, and understands the impact that his announcements may have on the identification of a street or station. Riders of Chicago's L have even dedicated websites to local station announcements.
Boston / Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
In Boston, baritone Frank Oglesby, Jr. greets riders on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's trains each day. Oglesby is MBTA's deputy director of customer service for operations, and landed his transit announcement job by accident. Oglesby explains how he landed the job as he worked in the system's communications department. In this Boston University article, Oglesby recalls how MBTA decided to transition from manual announcements to recorded announcements to comply with Federal Transit Administration standards. MBTA needed a voice, and Oglesby has had the job ever since. You can hear all of his Red Line announcements in this video, as a recent train decided to cycle through all its station announcements at one time.
San Fran / OAK / (Bay Area Rapid Transit) BART
In 2009 the San Francisco and Oakland area's Bay Area Rapid Transit system announced new voices for their transit system. However, instead of actually having a human record announcements, digitally created announcements were introduced. BART named George and Gracie, the new synthesized voices of BART.
BART relied on human, conductor-given announcements on its trains, but made the decision to move to an automated system in the late 1990's. BART concluded that "with dozens of stations and thousands of train arrivals every day, real live human beings just couldn’t keep up with the job of voicing all those announcements."
"BART chose a text-to-speech (TTS) system from Lucent Technologies, based on the long history of Lucent’s Bell Labs Division in developing TTS products. Lucent called its male voice John and its female voice Grace; at BART, they came to be called George and Gracie. The announcements alternate between the male and female voices on odd- and even-numbered platforms."
Riders of BART may argue that the system's announcements lack the same intimacy or connection that other major systems have, knowing that there is not an actual person associated with their transit announcements. George and Gracie sound more like robots than station guides.
Philadelphia / Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
Riders in the Philadelphia area will recognize the voice of Alvin Elliott, one of the eight rail announcers that SEPTA uses to relay travel information to passengers. And, like all systems, SEPTA has instituted changes to their destination names to keep them current with the built environment. Elliott was a station attendant and when SEPTA transitioned to automatic announcements around 2000, he became the voice of SEPTA. There's even an imitator on YouTube that is quite caught up by Elliott's station announcements.
Atlanta / Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
In Atlanta, Michele Torres is the voice of MARTA. She's also now a model. She has had a very tough last few years, battling breast cancer, as well as the loss of her brother. Skip to the 2:48 mark of this story to see her MARTA announcement.
Los Angeles / Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)
Metro instituted automatic announcements on their gold and green lines in 2004, with its blue line following in 2006. There are variations in voices among different lines within the system, but there appears to be no identifiable voice. You can listen to some of the announcements yourself here. A recent review of Metro's Los Angeles rail system compared it to Washington DC's Metro. Among other things, the reviewer noticed that announcements in Los Angeles were made automatically, while those in Washington DC are still made manually aboard trains.
Mathew Fleming of the Los Angeles Register recalls:
An automated voice informs riders what the next destination is in L.A., but in D.C., this job is done live, and no two drivers are the same. Some talk really fast, some have a broken mic, some are peppy, some sound sad. Occasionally, you get one that’s not afraid to show some spunk.One might be led to think that with the entertainment industry in Hollywood that there might be a famous voice behind the station announcements. Like Houston, this one is still a mystery.
Portland / TriMet MAX Light Rail
Enrique Andrade
In Portland, Enrique Andrade works as a courtroom interpreter, but moonlights providing TriMet's MAX Light Rail Spanish announcements. In a recent Oregonian story by Joseph Rose, we are given an update on a 2006 story, which highlights how Andrade became the Spanish voice of MAX announcements. Andrade, like many other transit voices, has lent his voice to local media outlets, and is represented by a voiceover talent agency.
Jodi Lorimer
Jodi Lorimer is the female voice to Portland's MAX English announcements, pointing riders to stations and the door side for each stop. Lorimer's voice "welcomes you aboard, advises to use caution when crossing track and gives a polite reminder to move for seniors and people with disabilities", as noted by Joseph Rose. More of Lorimer's credits are listed on this Portland MAX blog.
Orlando / Walt Disney World Resort Monorail
Finally, what public transit list would be complete without the Walt Disney World Resort monorail? In 2012, Walt Disney World Resort decided to change the voice of their monorail announcement. Orlando native and voice actor Joe Hursh had been the voice of the monorail announcements since 2004. Disney did not change the recognizable "Please Stand Clear of the Doors. Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas." These were the words of Jack Wagner, a former voice actor who passed away in 1995, and was the monorail's first announcer when it opened in 1971. The new voice of the monorail is Tom Kane, a voice actor who has played to role of Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Hong Kong / MTR (Mass Transit Railway)
Cheri Chan Yu-yan
In Hong Kong, Cheri Chan provides the voice for city's trains and stations. She has been the voice of the MTR since 1992, beating out five other candidates for the position. She continues to provide announcement updates for new stations as well as re-worded announcements. Her voice provided standardized announcements, which replaced the often incomprehensible announcements made by individual drivers.
Minneapolis - St. Paul / Metro Transit
Kathleen Humphrey
Actress and singer Kathleen Humphrey lends her voice to her hometown Metro Transit Authority in the Twin Cities. She regularly sings in front of orchestra and opera audiences, but her biggest audience is the 60,000 people per day that ride Metro Transit's light rail system. Humphrey "won the part of the voice of light rail through an audition process in which both men and women applied. The goal is a voice that's 'warm, sort of neutral, authoritative, calm, reassuring.'"
Philadelphia, PA, Camden, NJ / PATCO
Bernie Wagenblast
PATCO, the Port Authority Transit Corporation of the Delaware River Port Authority, recently revealed the agency's "'next generation' train cars -- refurbished cars with upgraded interiors, as well as communication and operating systems" according to Greg Adomaitis of NJ.com. Based on the agency's social media accounts, they began operating their refurbished train cars during the first week of June 2015.
The refurbishment of PATCO's train cars features new interiors, security and mechanical improvements, as well as upgraded communication systems, including clear station announcements. Riders of New York's subway line may find the voice familiar. It is none other than Bernie Wagenblast, most noted for his "Next Train Arriving" announcements for New York City's 1-6 subway lines. In this sample of the new PATCO announcements, you can hear Wagenblast announce "Westmont Station next, Westmont". Riders seem to enjoy the new announcements, as Adomaitis described them as being "crystal clear".
Mobile Users: Tap to Hear the Audio (Shout)
New York City - Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York (MTA) - Lexington Avenue Line (4, 5, and 6 Trains)
Jessica Ettinger is the Today Show radio anchor for Sirius XM, but is also the voice of subway announcements that passengers hear on New York's Lexington Avenue subway line. New York's NBC 4 said in a recent story that "Fifteen years ago, Ettinger lent the MTA her voice while working at Bloomberg News. They had her record "the next stop is" just once, and then she recorded the names of all the stops on the line." It seems her recordings are a bit too long for station stops, and the MTA is considering replacing her announcements with shorter ones given the record number of subways riders, which results in increased frequency of trains.
London - Transport for London (TfL) bus, and London Overground rail
Emma Hignett
The Guardian Cities features Emma Hignett, the voice of London's bus and London Overground rail system. Until 2005 London's transit announcements were made manually by bus and train drivers, when they were replaced by pre-recorded messages. Guardian Cities asks whether this shift will "kill personality on the morning commute." While the personality of driver-led announcements provides some charm and flexibility, the article is quick to point to the benefit of consistency, and the ability to readily provide announcements in multiple languages (as evidenced in Cape Town, South Africa).
Toronto - Toronto Transit Commission - TTC
Danny Nicholson has provided his voice for Toronto's TTC announcements for nearly 20 years, but has now retired. Nicholson served as a radio announcer for many years before returning to school to study corporate communications, and eventually landing a position with the TTC. He became the voice for system announcements after a coworker suggested he audition for the job. Brad Ross, TTC executive director, corporate communications, offered, "Danny’s familiar and friendly, but authoritative voice, has been a mainstay in the subway for the last 16 years. If you didn’t know to stand back of the yellow line, mind the gap or not smoke on TTC property, you soon did after hearing one of the many public service announcements Danny recorded over the years."
Nicholson's voice will now be replaced with a professional female announcer.
Andrea Rooz
It hasn't taken long, but it appears that Toronto's TTC has chosen to use Andrea Rooz to be the voice of their transit announcements. Rooz notes that she grew up mimicking the TTC's announcements, but now she gets to record them for real according to Toronto's Metro News. Rooz says "nothing is as satisfying as being able to help the thousands of commuters who take the TTC every day."
Ottawa - OC Transpo
Julian Doucet
Julian Doucet lends his voice to Ottawa, Canada's city buses and certain train lines. Doucet's experience in becoming the voice of OC Transpo is chronicled by the Megan Gillis in the Ottawa Citizen. As opposed to other Voices of Public Transit that auditioned for the role, Doucet's voice was picked from a bank of voice talents, and he competed with three women for the voice role, and he notes that "it was like American Idol but for bus stops."
For travelers or riders of public transit, these are some of the familiar voices that greet us each day. We know their voices, but at least now we've got some faces to go with them.
***Update 7/18/2014 - The Voices of Houston's METRO Bus and Rail reveals the actresses who provide the voices to Houston's public transit announcements.
***Update - since posting, an edited version of this post can be found on the Motherboard website. Thanks to Alex Pasternack for the inclusion of the article.
***Update - 7-16-14 and 7/17/2014 - Addition of Portland, OR Spanish and English voices
***Update - 3-9-2015 - Addition of Hong Kong
***Update - 4-6-2015 - Addition of St. Paul, MN
***Update - 6-11-2015 - Addition of PATCO in Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ
***Update - 8-24-2015 - Addition of MTA's Lexington Avenue Line
***Update - 2-2-2016 - Addition of the Guardian Cities article, "Synthetic or human? The changing voices behind transport announcements".
***Update - 3-23-2016 - Addition of Toronto's TTC, retiring voice of Danny Nicholson
***Update - 3-29-2016 - Addition of Toronto's TTC, Andrea Rooz
