Rider behavior is in the cards

It’s been a long time coming, but manners are finally in vogue. Or at least trading cards that teach kids the basics of bus and subway etiquette are.

Last year, the Metropolitan Transit Authority launched Metro Manners, a series of 14 cards distributed free to schoolchildren during MTA safety presentations. But some of the 150,000 foil-wrapped five-packs, also available at the MTA customer service office, have made their way into the hands of adults hooked on all things hip.

The world illustrated here is one with which we’re all too familiar. Take Loud Cellphone Guy. The card depicts a lanky, pasty man sitting on the bus with a cellphone glued to his ear. His melon head is frozen in a hearty guffaw, his larynx exposed behind a set of horse’s teeth. “Other passengers don’t want to hear your cellphone calls. Remember to talk quietly” is the card’s message.

There’s also Forgetful Frankie, a little frog who sheepishly digs into his pockets, his train ticket nowhere to be found. And the Litterbug, a peanut-shaped businessman surrounded by newspapers and magazines, which he’ll conveniently forget on the bus floor as he rushes out. “I liked the Garbage Pail Kids, and you can see how that influenced our concept,” says Diana Aspillera, founder and designer for Meat Collective, the Chinatown-based design studio that was awarded the project.

Metro art project manager Alan Nakagawa came up with the idea after he saw that his kids were trading-card fanatics. But he’s not surprised that adults are taking notice. “There’s such a subculture of animation and illustration,” he says. “One of our goals was to hopefully be acknowledged within that subculture.”

-- Celeste Moure