New York State’s new smoking ban on MTA Long Island Rail Road and MTA Metro-North Railroad outdoor platform, ticketing and boarding areas of terminals and stations goes into effect and the voices of some of the big town’s favorite athletes, performers, writers and news professionals are lending their voices to a public education campaign letting customers know about the new rules.

Metro-North stations in Connecticut are not subject to the new law.

To help get the word out, an All-Star lineup of New Yorkers volunteered to record public address announcements for Metro-North and the LIRR, including New York Jets Super Bowl hero Joe Namath, New York Ranger Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert, former New York Yankee Tommy John, WFAN sports commentator Ann Liguori, Long Island native and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler, Pro-Football Hall of Famer Elvin Bethea, James Lipton, host of TV’s “Inside the Actors Studio,” Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, Juliet Papa of 1010 WINS Radio News, actress Lori Singer, Ken Auletta of The New Yorker magazine and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

Metro-North President Howard Permut said: “The new law is a benefit to our customers, helping us in our efforts to provide a healthier and cleaner environment on our platforms and in our ticketing and boarding area. We appreciate the action taken by Governor Cuomo and the Legislature to protect New Yorkers and improve public health.”

LIRR President Helena Williams said: “We supported the legislation and appreciated the Governor signing into law the ban on smoking in outdoor locations at LIRR stations. The new law provides positive impacts for health and safety as well as reducing the potential for track fires. The majority of our customers and employees are eagerly awaiting a smoke-free environment at our outdoor areas.”

The LIRR and Metro-North are conducting customer education campaigns to raise awareness of the new smoking ban. The effort will include seat drops on trains, posters in stations, customer email alerts, postings on Facebook and twitter as well as the celebrity public service announcements. Permanent signage will also be installed at all LIRR stations in New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County and all Metro-North stations in New York City, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess Counties.

The effective date of this new law in New York is November 13, 2011 and all customers are expected to comply. However, MTA Police will be issuing warnings to violators rather than summonses during a grace period while the education campaign is underway and both railroads amend their Rules of Conduct and those rules are approved by the MTA Board.

The current rules prohibit smoking on any train and in any indoor area within a terminal or station. The new state law extends the prohibition on smoking to the outdoor railroad platforms, ticketing and boarding areas. When the Rules of Conduct are amended for both railroads, it will provide the MTA Police with the authority to enforce the new law.

City.Mobi

Also in US today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to New York.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

NYC.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.