Comments on: Prendergast pledges cleaner stations

By: Don Anon

Don Anon — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:57:46 +0000

Yeah, great idea: Ben should grab a slimy, rotting apple core and walk it several hundred feet to the garbage.

Why don’t you offer to do it instead?

By: JPN

JPN — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:59:29 +0000

What about the streaks of liquid that leave a mark on the platforms? The cleaning employees drag those garbage bags on the floor and rarely do I see them mop up. (I’m not the JP in the previous comment. My first name is abbreviated JP.)

By: Older and Wiser

Older and Wiser — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:01:54 +0000

There’s also a NYC cultural tendency to prioritize outdoor cleanliness downward. You see that same grime on the wheel assemblies of the jetways at the airports here. It’s always a shock to land in a place like San Francisco and look out the window to see the recently painted undercarriage and wheel assembly of the jetway moving toward your aircraft.

By: JP

JP — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:56:28 +0000

Cleanliness starts with the riders? How long have you been looking at that apple core, Ben? Pitch in! Not your problem? Maybe you didn’t create this microscopic aspect of the problem, and the thought “once I start picking up garbage, where will it end?” has crossed your mind. But just this once, I won’t tell the unions if you won’t.

We have all pretended not to watch that abandoned soda bottle get kicked around the car. We go to sit down and give the seat a quick sweep. We take that coffee cup or newspaper and chuck it between our legs. When was the last time you called someone out for littering? I’ve done it- and I must admit I get cursed at for it. It’s amazing how offended people get when you catch them red-handed.

I guess what I’m saying is, yes we need a ‘heavy-handed campaign’. Yes, we need enforced penalties for littering. Glad Ed mentioned terrorism. Let’s put the ‘see something say something’ team to work. I see littering people!

By: tacony palmyra

tacony palmyra — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:47:46 +0000

I admit that I do eat on the train regularly and I enjoy the fact that they don’t enforce a prohibition on food and drink like they do in DC. I never litter of course, but I’m not sure I’d want to give up that ability to reduce food litter. Commuting represents a significant part of the day for a lot of busy people in the city to eat. It’s a consideration.

But yeah, it’s obvious that a lot of areas of the platforms in some stations haven’t been cleaned in years and years. The yellow rubber caution area by the platform edges are entirely black with grime in some sections of most stations, and you can write your name in dust and grime on the walls and the signs toward the ends of platforms of a lot as well.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:24:04 +0000

It’s been especially bad this week since cleaners were put on snow removal duty, leaving trash cans to overflow for a couple days. I don’t see how Prendergast will accomplish this goal without either more cleaners or new litter enforcement.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:21:21 +0000

Maybe so, but if you triple the number of trash cans, it should – in theory – take three times as long to fill up. And I’m not sure if I buy the “cleaning” argument. There is plenty of cleaning to be done as a result of NOT having the trash cans!

But yes, the cans themselves do cost money.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:42:58 +0000

I thought alot of the trash cans were removed after 9-11, to stop terrorists.

By: Working Class

Working Class — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:30:46 +0000

The problem with the trash is the same as every single other problem facing the TA, money. It costs money to pay people to clean and empty trash cans that fill up very quickly.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:55:34 +0000

I’ve noticed the same thing at the south end of the 2/3 platform at Penn Station. One has to walk quite a distance, and navigate around staircases and a concession stand, to find a trash can. I believe Disney did a study that proved most people will use a trash can if it is within (about) ten steps away, otherwise they’ll find another place to throw their trash. It’s a no-brainer: more trash cans means less trash on the ground, in utility boxes, and atop pay phones; as well as less overflow of the existing ones.