Leave it to amNY to bury the lead. In an obvious article about how the subways smell, the most interesting quote from a rider came in third graph, nearly 100 poorly written words into the article.
“The further you go uptown in Manhattan, and anywhere in the Bronx, it gets pretty bad,” Jamie Rocha said to reporter Marlene Naanes. “I don’t really know how to describe it.”
While Naanes then goes on to note that, yes, the subways smell bad and that New York City Transit plans to add 350 more cleaners to their employment rolls this fall, there is no follow-up here. This, people, is the news.
Is the MTA doing a better job of cleaning up high-volume stations through which tourists and working people pass everyday? Is the MTA neglecting stations based on where they fall among New York City’s socioeconomic geography? These are questions worth exploring, and yet, here, they go unanswered.
Over at Gothamist, the coverage of this article features an interesting conversation in the comments. One person astutely noted that public bathrooms in the subways would go a long way toward alleviate the stench on the platforms. While the MTA would still need to maintain a vigilant janitorial crew, keeping the smell in the bathroom is preferable to stinky platforms.
Meanwhile, speaking of things that stink, here are your your weekend service advisories. Lots of changes everywhere – but particularly on the West Side IRT and 8th Ave. lines. Stay alert when reading those signs. For the changes in convenient press release form, click here.
See you on Monday.
4 comments
Opening bathrooms would be considerably more expensive than just hiring more cleaners for the stations. There are very few people who will relieve themselves on a platform or in an elevator. But if you have an actual bathroom, lots of people will try to use it. Bathrooms in heavily-trafficked places tend to get disgusting in a big, big hurry. There’s also the problem of drug addicts going in there to shoot up, alcoholics to vomit, prostitutes to have sex, and so forth. That’s why the bathrooms (in those stations that have them) were closed to the public long ago. If they’re going to be open, they need almost constant vigilance. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have them, but it’s a much more expensive solution, and wouldn’t obviate the need for cleaners throughout the rest of the station.
Once Upon A Time, there were numerous public restrooms in the Subway, run by the Nik-L-Lok Company. They operated Pay Toilets, charging money for use, paying an employee to be on hand, and remitting revenue to the Transit Authority too. Pretty much Win-Win-Win, huh?
But NYCTA was sued, in the early 1970’s I believe, for unfairly charging people money to perform bodily fuctions. The suit was decided in favor of the plantiffs, and The Law of Unintended Consequences took over from there…..
Public toilets at street level would be easier to install and almost as helpful. (And probably just as gross, but hey, a girl can dream.)
Not that this proves anything, but the stankiest subway platform I’ve ever encountered is Mayor Bloomberg’s favored stop: the downtown 4/5 platform at 59th Street. It’s several stories underground and virtually sealed off from the rest of the station, so on the hot weekend night when I found myself there a few weeks ago, the smell was … truly indescribable. Score one for the elevated subway lines – we may freeze in the winter, but at least our platforms will never stink like that.
I agree with Marc. Toliets are not the answer. Hiring more cleaning people would be better. Those same people could maybe clear the drains of the litter that clogs up the pumps which then helps keep the floods away. It’s a win-win.