I was on an uptown bus shortly after the advent of automated announcements. Here’s a printed list of some stops along the route:

Everything sounded fine in the 80s and 90s. I heard “next stop West 86th Street and Broadway,” and so on up the line. Then came “next stop One Hundred and Oneth Street.” I didn’t bother writing to the MTA, the governing body of public transit in New York City. I knew that thousands of New Yorkers would have already informed the agency of this mistake. (Complaining about public transit — complaining about everything! — is one of New Yorkers’ favorite pastimes.)

Last week I was on the same bus. Sure enough, the announcement had been changed. Notice I say “changed,” not “corrected,” because the revised version was “One Oh First Street.” “One OH” mimics New Yorkers’ usage for building numbers. No local would say, “I work at two hundred and five Madison Avenue. It’s “2 OH 5 Madison Avenue.” But that form isn’t for street names, and “One OH” doesn’t pair with “First.” The stop should be “One Hundred and First Street.” Why? Because that’s how we locals say it.

The crosstown bus in my neighborhood initially presented a problem also. Note the third stop on this list, which is located across from the stables housing NYPD horses:

For the first year or so, the automated announcement placed the accent on the second syllable (transVERSE). Eventually the accent was moved to the first syllable, where it should be (TRANSverse).

Last one. If you’re a visitor to NYC and ask for directions to a spot on “the Avenue of the Americas,” chances are you’ll be met with a puzzled frown. If you’re lucky, the person will respond, “Ya mean Sixth Avenue?” The name was changed in 1945 when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia hoped to entice Central and South American countries to build consulates there. The city hung country medallions and these signs:

More realistic, in its route listings the MTA opted for the term bus and subway riders actually use:

Ditto in its maps. Check the vertical lines, which represent avenues. Right in the center you’ll see “Sixth Avenue”:

If there’s a moral to this story, it’s that we’re all local where we live, but we’re all nonlocal where we don’t. Be patient with someone who asks where “East Two OH Fifth Steet” is. Actually, be patient with everyone, as often as you can. These tense times demand our best efforts!