Our good friend SEPTA is no stranger to criticism (just give @SEPTA_SOCIAL a glance) but I'm not here for that kind of talk today.

This month, the agency is looking to give transit a boost over the intercom and is soliciting our help to do it.



SEPTA has opened up a voting process to select a new announcer to talk to us while we ride. You can fill out this form with your information and write up a "thoughtful" entry on who is most deserving, according to their selection guidelines. You have a chance of winning some prizes just for entering, too.

And hey, don't cut yourself short; Will Smith isn't the only one who could make the short list of candidates. Just make your plea interesting enough, and you could hear yourself during the morning commute.

The top 11 entries will be selected for prizes. Notably, the No. 1 entry will get a September Anywhere TrailPass (!). And the other top 10 will get a SEPTA T-shirt.

Apparently SEPTA is drawing inspiration from Seth Rogan and his hometown of Vancouver on this one. TransLink, the city's transportation system, asked Rogan to announce things like transit etiquette, fun facts about Vancouver, and his relationship to the region over train intercoms. Oh, and he's doing it for free.





So hopefully we catch a celebrity with a similar charitable impulse.

We're not under any impression that if a celebrity announces which stop is up next Philadelphians will be more likely to take public transit. But it could spruce things up a bit.

And there's a decent pool of interesting people to draw from — aforementioned Will Smith, Kevin Hart, Nick Foles, Joel Embiid, PhillyVoice staffer Emily Rolen , Merrill Reese, Tina Fey. There are many possibilities.

The voting closes August 26 before midnight, so start drafting your thoughtful responses now.

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