Quote from a Train for Thought subway placard

To dig the country out of the Great Depression the WPA put writers and artists to work on large-scale public works meant to benefit the country as a whole, employ the unemployed to stimulate the economy, and, in general, to make a pretty dismal and depressing situation a little less so by funding the creation of works on a scale that the general public would come into contact with daily and, hopefully, appreciate. To dig our country out of our recent hard times the government has…passed more tax cuts. Inspiring, huh?

Well, until the holiday break New Yorkers had a notable public arts initiative supported by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in the form of its “Train of Thought” series. The placards adorning the cars were meant to make “stimulating selections from great works of literature, philosophy, science and history” accessible to all subway patrons. This may not have been terribly stimulative in the economic sense, but it was uplifting in its own way. But apparently not anymore.

According to this article by Michael Grynbaum in the New York Times, the MTA has pulled the plug on “Train of Thought.” The program lost funding from its co-sponsor (the TV game show “Jeopardy” — the next time a MobyLives reader is on the show please remember to ask Alex Trebek what’s the deal) and so it will now follow in the footsteps of other popular but discontinued public arts projects. As the Times notes:

The loss of the literary placards, which have offered a reprieve from the usual advertising array of laser acne treatments and injury lawyers, marks the first time in 18 years that the subways will not feature a pinch of erudition. Poetry in Motion, the original verse-only series that spawned popular books and copycats in other cities, ran from 1992 to 2008, before being succeeded by the current program.

So what will we get in return? A new ad campaign by the MTA to “highlight recent improvements to the transit system.” Considering the recent insult of raising fares to the injury of spotty service during the blizzard, obviously they could use a little PR help. But couldn’t they just sacrifice a few of the ads by Dr. Zizmor instead?

If you live in New York chances are you take the subway. For work, for play, to get to your kid’s birthday party or piano recital, whatever–it’s a useful mode of transportation that offers little more than reliability (in the absence of blizzards and strikes of course) and utility. The aesthetic experience of riding the subway is pretty spartan, punctuated by only a few stations where a lot of thought, care, and artistry have been put into their design. (Some of these rare gems–like the old City Hall station–haven’t been part of the work-a-day riding experience for years anyway.) The “Train of Thought” placards offered a weary traveler in the midst of a grinding commute a brief respite, a distraction with the potential to lift a work-induced haze–however momentarily–and spark an interesting thought.

Now, phrases like “Improving, Nonstop” and “If it’s broke, fix it” will have to suffice.