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Advertising revenue is boon for MTA, but some subway riders lament ‘ad creep’
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Aug 7, 2026
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Ramsey Khalifeh/Gothamist
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Aug 7, 2026
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This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.
Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.
A morning commute on the subway in 2026 can go a little like this: Listen to Woody promoting a new “Toy Story” movie while you wait on the platform. Sit down in a subway car and look at the digital screen cycling through ads for AI, Amazon and clothes. Get off at your stop and gaze upon posters for a deodorant company that mimic the system’s iconic wall mosaics.
Ad creep — a term used to describe the spread of advertising in public and private life — is happening all over the subways these days. Even turnstiles are wrapped with ads.
MTA Director of Commercial Ventures Mary John confirmed that riders are in fact seeing more ads. It is a growing revenue stream for the agency, John said.
“Ad revenue is an incredibly important source of revenue for the MTA outside our farebox. Revenue sources like this are what help us keep fares low for customers or those increases low year-over-year,” John said in an interview. “And what you're seeing is really kind of a transformative approach that the MTA has taken over the last year, year-and-a-half, to grow our ad program.”
The MTA brought in around $180 million from ads in 2025, the bulk of which came from subway ads.
That compares to the $3.6 billion in farebox revenue the transit agency brought in from subways, buses and paratransit service, financial documents show.
Commuters at the West Fourth Street subway station said they feel they can’t escape promotions, posters and commercials. Dean Pigott, 25, noted the Degree deodorant ads in the station that can easily be mistaken for the tile mosaics of subway station names.
“ I actually don't like advertising like this at all. It kills some of the art and the whimsy of the subway in a way that makes me a little bit sad,” Pigott said. “I don't think you should be able to encroach on the cultural power of what MTA has built here.”
Advertising has been a nuisance to some subway riders since the earliest days of the system.
Days after the Interborough Rapid Transit Company opened the first subway line in 1904, the New York Times reported that the city’s Architectural League and the Municipal Art Society were miffed by all the ads.
“They were cordial in their praise of the artistic results achieved, but just as cordial in their condemnation of the unsightly advertising signs,” the Times reported.
The MTA is far from the only transit agency in the New York region to embrace ads. During this summer’s FIFA World Cup tournament, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri inked a $1.7 million deal with delivery app DoorDash that temporarily renamed the Meadowlands Rail Line the DoorDash Meadowlands Rail Line. DoorDash also wrapped the train cars in its logos and lit up a train station in its signature colors. The rebrand lasts until next year.
“Look, I'm testing out a new advertising mechanism,” Kolluri said in June. “If this lighting produces the kind of attention I think it's going to produce, I have more assets to light up. That's where the money is.”
NYC transportation news this week
Mayor Mamdani hasn't made NYC's buses free, but some riders stopped paying anyway. It still costs $3 to ride the MTA’s buses, despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make them free for everyone. But don’t tell that to a growing number of New Yorkers who are evading the fare.
MTA subway construction upends life in East Harlem. Many East Harlem neighbors and business owners said the short-term pain of ongoing construction is worth the addition of a subway up Second Avenue, which has been promised for nearly a century.
New York City cracks down on online vendors of illegal e-bikes. Mayor Mamdani said the city will crack down on the online sales of illegal e-bikes and scooters following a series of deadly crashes involving so-called micromobility devices.
Art project takes over Manhattan subway kiosk. At the West Fourth Street station on the downtown B, D, F and M train platform, a newly reopened newspaper kiosk is stocked with free zines, guides to several subway stations and a limited supply of rat tail keychains.
'Shame stickers' are back for alternate-side parking violators. Drivers who don’t move their cars for street cleaning could find big, bright green stickers on their windows, but the Department of Sanitation said shaming people isn't the point — getting owners to move their cars is.
Better light rail in North Jersey? Transit advocates in Jersey City have a plan to improve light rail service, envisioning off-peak light-rail service, new light rail stops in Jersey City and Hoboken, and more.
Curious Commuter
Have a question for us? Use this form to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter!
Question from Christian in Brooklyn
OMNY is programmed to give us free subway and bus trips when we take more than 12 in a seven-day period. When does this period start? Is it the same fixed seven-day period for everyone?
Answer
When the MTA rolled out the OMNY tap-to-pay system, it unveiled a seven-day fare cap. The system initiates the seven-day period whenever you first ride in a week. The best way to track when your seven-day period starts is by creating an account on the OMNY website, which you can link to your OMNY or credit card.
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On The Way
new york city
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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