Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
The MTA Is Getting Tired Of Having To Retrieve AirPods From Subway Tracks
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 4, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Jen Chung/Gothamist
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 4, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The MTA has to deal with a lot of annoying behavior from straphangers—subway surfing, people smashing their ad screens, children with recorders—but there is one thing that has been really getting to them lately. Forget people putting bags of concrete mix on the tracks: the current annoying trend is all the people dropping their AirPods, and then either trying to get them themselves or getting MTA employees to jump onto the tracks to retrieve them. All this after one of their latest announcements was geared at getting riders to wear headphones!
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the irksome recent trend involving the increasingly ubiquitous $159 wireless headphones. Transit workers have apparently been fielding tons of requests for AirPod rescues since March, when Apple released a new version. To get them, they often use a pole that "extends to about 8 feet and has two rubber cups on the end that can be squeezed together to grab small objects" (workers apparently refer to it as the “picker-upper thing”).
According to the NY Post, subway workers retrieved 84 AirPods — nearly 20 per month — and hundreds more items listed as “earbuds,” “earpods,” or “headphones” between March and midway through July.
It's gotten so annoying, a spokesperson told the Journal the MTA is apparently considering whether to launch a public service announcement campaign urging commuters to refrain from taking AirPods on or off while entering or exiting trains. Or maybe they should just start encouraging people to use boomboxes again? (The MTA previously told us that they update their announcements all the time in response to emerging patterns and trends.)
We've reached out to the MTA (and Apple) for comment on the AirPods. In the meantime, enjoy a composite photo of a drunken panda whose AirPods are moments away from falling out of his ears and rolling onto the tracks.
The UnBEARable Lightness Of AirPods
Background Photo by Roman Kruglov
Tagged
we the commuters
MTA
AirPods
subway
train
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Sep 26, 2026
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
By
Hannah Frishberg
How a Harry Styles pop-up in the East Village led to a nearby bookstore owner's arrest
By
Sonia Rao
NYC’s creative workers are increasingly self-employed, report says
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .