Photo: WBZ NewsRadio \ Matt Shearer
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Do you know the voice that says, "Doors will open on the right," and "Next stop is..." on the MBTA? Well that's about to change for something far less... human.
The MBTA is replacing pre-recorded announcements with a text-to-speech service. WBZ's robot reporter Matt Shearer is on the T holding auditions to find the next voice of the MBTA and hear Boston's thoughts on the robot T takeover.
Matt found that many Bostonians have grown accustomed to Frank Oglesby's voice, the long-time voice of the MBTA, and weren't a huge fan of the cyborg swap.
"Sometimes you can't understand what the hell they are saying," one man said at the Downtown Crossing T station.
A spokesperson for the MBTA told WBZ NewsRadio that the change is to help get T riders more real-time information that go beyond the pre-recorded announcements. While the pre-recorded voice has worked in the past, they say is it no longer the case as the T modernizes its systems.
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One T rider named William told the robots to "Just back off," as he believes having a real person's voice is better than a robotic text-to-speech alternative.
"We are superior, we have brains and souls," he said.
T riders across Boston say Frank Oglesby's voice will be missed.
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