Boston commuters are seeing a new feature on their trains: googly eyes

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Boston commuters are seeing a new feature on their trains - googly eyes.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

I don't think I heard you right. Googly eyes?

MARTIN: Yes, you did - big googly eyes. And that's because recent college grads John Sanchez and Arielle Lok organized a campaign to get the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to add them.

MARTÍNEZ: Why?

ARIELLE LOK: Well, it's pretty simple.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. Here's Arielle.

LOK: We're big believers that the eyes are the window to the soul and that the soul of a city is its transit system. So we tried to connect those dots and give all T riders a new, fun way to connect emotionally with such a cornerstone part of the city.

MARTÍNEZ: Window to the soul, Michel - sounds dreamy.

MARTIN: I know. Connecting to your train...

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).

MARTIN: ...Who doesn't want to do that? And the MBTA agreed to add googly eyes to five trains.

LOK: And we've named them Frog, Forg, Gorf, Grof and Vilas respectively.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, that wouldn't be a Kermit the Frog reference, would it?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SESAME STREET")

JIM HENSON: (As Kermit the Frog) That says Kermit the Gorf.

FRANK OZ: (As Salesman) What?

HENSON: (As Kermit the Frog) G-O-R-F. You see, frog is F-R-O-G.

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) So what did it take to get the transit authority to do this?

MARTIN: Well, back in April, Arielle and John held a march at Boston Common. Here's John.

JOHN SANCHEZ: We printed a bunch of posters and put them around Boston. We got in contact with a bunch of influencers on social media who really care about transit, got in touch with some local news outlets - all trying to drive momentum towards this very important and serious cause.

MARTIN: And like any decent protest, they had chants...

SANCHEZ: (Chanting) Bring some joy into our lives. Give the Green Line googly eyes.

MARTIN: ...And songs.

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).

SANCHEZ: (Singing) We all want a train with googly eyes, a train with googly eyes, a train with...

MARTÍNEZ: All right. So...

SANCHEZ: ...(Singing) Googly eyes.

MARTÍNEZ: Dare I ask how Bostonians are reacting to these trains?

MARTIN: Well, they can be a restrained bunch. And Arielle admits it's been mixed, but mostly positive.

LOK: We had one mandate - give the T vision, and now the T has vision. We had a very simple demand, and the MBTA saw us eye to eye. And we have - now have googly eyes on all the Ts, or on five of them.

MARTÍNEZ: Five goofy little trains that could.

(SOUNDBITE OF IDEAL BREAD'S "QUIRKS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.