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The New York Post SUBWAY MUMBLE BUMBLE September 19, 2003 -- Straphangers, listen up - subway-car announcements have gotten much harder to understand. Subway announcements are worse this year on 12 lines where conductors deliver garbled and hard-to-understand messages, a new report reveals. The seventh annual Straphangers Campaign survey found that the quality of the announcements - those given to denote a station and any transfer points - decreased from 73 percent in 2002 to 67 percent this year. "In an age of terrorism, blackouts and massive subway reconstruction, announcements should be getting better, not worse," said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign. "In an age of anxiety, riders desperately need to know what's going on and get information. " The survey was conducted by 37 volunteers between March and July and took into account 6,600 announcements on the Transit Authority's 22 subway lines. The report found that the No. 6 line performed best, with raters hearing clear announcements 99 percent of the time, followed by the No. 2 train, at 95 percent, and the No. 5 train, at 93 percent. The B came in last place, delivering audible announcements to riders just 42 percent of the time. The survey also found:
"All that means is that someone has decided that your train shouldn't move," Russianoff said. TA spokesman Paul Fleuranges said that the 6 percent drop from last year is "statistically insignificant" and that conductors receive refresher courses every 31/2 years.
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