If you commute via Metrorail you likely have this message, or one like it, seared into your brain.

“Doors opening. Step back to allow customers to exit. When boarding please move to the center of the car. This is a Blue Line train to Largo Town Center. The next stop is Foggy Bottom. Step back. Doors closing.”

But now Metro is changing the announcements on its railcars at the request of its Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC).

The new message moves the most important information, what train line and destination it is, to the front. The change will be especially helpful at stations that have multiple lines.

“Doors opening. This is a Blue Line train to Largo Town Center. When boarding move to the center of the car. The next stop is Foggy Bottom. Step back. Doors closing.”

Phil Posner, chair of the AAC, says the change is beneficial for those with low vision, hearing, or low mobility and people new to the system. Not everyone has the good vision to be able to read the Passenger Information Displays.

“(Some) may need a head start getting on the correct train,” Posner said. “We generally thought it was more important to know what you’re getting on.”

He gave other examples of riders who use wheelchairs, crutches, or other mobility devices needing extra time to get on board. The change would provide an extra few crucial seconds for people on platforms to board the train.

Posner said the earlier announcement would also help in situations where outside signs on the trains aren’t working or when they say “special train” during unusual situations.

The committee has been asking for the change for a few years now.

Train conductors on older cars have been instructed to start using the new messages and automated messages on newer cars should be using the new message starting on Aug. 9 with the entire system switching over by Sept. 6.

Posner said Metro has generally been good about adding seemingly minor, but important accessibility tweaks in recent years.

He pointed to one change on the Passenger Information Displays: color-coding. When the upcoming trains are eight-car trains the number “8” will be green. The number “6” is orange for a six-car train.

“I have fairly normal vision for a 76-year-old, but sometimes telling a ‘6’ from an ‘8’ is not that easy,” Posner said. “But I can see the color and then you know where to stand on the platform.”

One thing he’d like to see changed in the future? A taller bench height and handholds, which would make it easier for people to get off those concrete benches.