©Marcin Wichary
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It reminds me of some of the more distasteful scenes I’ve witnessed in sci-fi movies, where the corporate overlords have free reign to affix brands to everything and the world has become a dystopic, chaotic mess. Not that changing the names of a few subway stations is going to lead to the downfall of society, but it does seem to fly in the face of M.T.A.’s previous views on the subject.
In the past, whenever it was suggested that a stations be renamed to honor a person of significance, it has been stated that station names must reflect the street names in order to avoid confusion. Now, according to the New York Times, a policy has been drafted to formalize M.T.A. policy on selling naming rights within the subway system as a “revenue strategy.”
M.T.A. experimented with naming rights in 2009 when it renamed a station in a 20-year deal with Barclays, and now it is warming to the idea adding corporate brands to station names as an additional source of revenue. Because that won’t be confusing at all, right?