Instead of staring vacantly into a phone on the train, the MTA and New York City’s three public library systems would like straphangers to bury their noses in e-books, gratis.

Starting today, the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Library will be offering hundreds of free short stories, books, and book excerpts for download through each station’s wireless network. Available for six weeks only, Subway Library will let you read titles in the library system as well as selects from five publishers’ catalogues.

And who doesn’t like books? Even Governor Andrew I-don’t-control-the-MTA Cuomo had kind words for the program. “I am thrilled that the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Public Library are kicking off the summer reading season and offering free e-books to subway riders through the MTA’s TransitWirelessWiFi™,” Cuomo said, referring to the private wireless services provider for the subway system. “The Subway Library will encourage adults and children to explore new worlds through reading during their daily commute, while spreading awareness of our Wi-Fi and connectivity services underground.”

To promote the program, the MTA’s gone all out and decked out a real train:

Inside, the promotional car is gussied up to resemble the Rose Main Reading Room at the New York Public Library’s main branch on 42nd Street: The industrial grey-blue seats are transformed into faux wood benches as book-lined wallpaper edges the car, though the titles are more suggestive than substantive. Curious riders can catch the special train on the E and F lines’ 6th and 8th Avenue corridors.