NEW YORK (CNN) -- After reading the back of their MetroCards, New Yorkers might feel a twinge of optimism during their morning commute.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority -- commonly known as the MTA -- has joined with an artist's "Project Optimism," and since September has been distributing MetroCards bearing the word "Optimism" written in bold sans-serif on a white background.

The New York Times described the letters as floating "in a sea of white just beneath the boilerplate fine print" on the cards, which riders use to get through MTA turnstiles.

MTA officials hope the word inspires commuters and brightens an otherwise mundane morning commute.

Although the project was conceived before the city felt the full effect of the financial downturn, the MTA think the message might inspire customers who, like people all across America, face high unemployment and financial hardships.

Part of the plan was to make the cards a bit of serendipity.

"We didn't want to promote the cards," said Christopher P. Boylan, deputy executive director of corporate and community affairs at the MTA. "We wanted people to discover the message for themselves."

The Optimism Project grew out of "Optimism" buttons that artist Reed Seifer created as part of his senior thesis at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He approached the MTA about the concept in June, and the MTA embraced his idea.

Boylan said the transit authority has already received positive feedback from its customers.

On average, New Yorkers carry 2.2 MetroCards on them, Boylan said, and there are tens of millions of cards in circulation. Since September, the MTA has produced 7 million of the "Optimism" cards, and additional 7 million have been ordered.

"We're going to see how this project plays out, and hopefully cheer the city up a little," Boylan said.

Seifer said his inspiration for the project came when he found a sugar packet in the university's dining hall that had a mantra reading, "An optimist is someone who tells you to cheer up when things are going his way." The word "optimist" struck the artist.

"I love to find art in unexpected places," he said. "And it's my dream that it makes people feel better about anything they might be going through."

When MetroCards became the MTA's standard payment method in New York City back in 1997, the transit authority envisioned using their backs as a means to generate revenue by selling ad space. Ads, however, never generated much revenue.

The real estate on the back of these cards now often features a calendar of events across the city or poetic messages, said Gene Russianoff, a staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.

"I had no idea that the word was a command," said Russianoff, looking at his "Optimism" card. "I thought it was a dictionary word and the next card I buy would have the definition."

Asked if the card inspires him, Russianoff said, "It's not like the card doesn't make me feel optimistic."

Joseph E. LeDoux, a psychology professor at New York University, indicated that scientific studies show that words or pictures can "implicitly trigger" attitudes and feelings.

"For the same reason you wouldn't want to put "hate" on a MetroCard, you might want to put 'optimism,'" he wrote in an e-mail. "Does it work? Who knows? But I don't think it harms."

Still, some New Yorkers say they require more than a simple word to inspire optimism.

A better word for the back of a MetroCard would be "Anxiety," said Wiley Norvell, the communications director at Transportation Alternative, which advocates for walking, biking and public transit.

"We're staring down major financial problems with subway and buses," he said.

For 2010, the MTA has to financially "hold the line," to keep subway trains and buses operating on normal schedules without increasing MetroCard prices, Norvell pointed out.

"These "Optimism" cards will be cold company for a person waiting for train that takes a long time to arrive," he said.

Jameelah Shoman, who lives in Brooklyn and buys a monthly MetroCard, said she noticed the word and assumed its intent was to make commuters feel better about the MTA.

"There's been so much bad press about them," Shoman said. "I thought they were sending the message: 'We're not that bad.'"

The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta
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