When news surfaced yesterday that MTA crews had loaded up a passenger train with garbage bags, I figured heads would roll, and already, the authority is doling out the discipline. According to the Daily News, the worker responsible for supervising the work gang that collects trash from the tracks at 59th St. on the East Side will be disciplined. “We can’t state strongly enough that refuse is absolutely not to be stored or transported on passenger trains,” the agency said in a statement.
Per the News, the MTA determined that workers had collected the refuse from the tracks near the 59th St. station. Instead of carrying it above ground as they should have, the supervisor ordered trash loaded onto the next passenger train in order to take it to 42nd St. where a work train would pick it up. “This was not done with the knowledge or acquiescence of any senior manager,” MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said. “This is a complete no-no.”
Labor officials, meanwhile, hinted that this practice may be more widespread than anyone would prefer. “I have seen supervisors order cleaners to place garbage bags on passenger trains for transportation to a storage facility,” Marvin Holland, a TWU Local 100 member, said. “It’s a health and safety issue for passengers, and our members will not do it unless specifically ordered by supervision.”
8 comments
No if they can only get transit workers to use some hand trucks to transport garbage on subway platforms instead of dragging the leaking bags all over newly-laid, very expensive tiles, that would be a nice little improvement. Nothing like seeing a renovated station with lovely mosaics and new tiles, then looking down at dried-up slime that smells like sour milk and piss leading to all the garbage bags piled at the end of the platform.
On that note, why exactly are the ends of just about every subway platform ALWAYS covered with dank, dark, tar-like gunk? Do they figure “heck, who the hell will come down this far” when they clean the platform, or put up new lighting? Just curious.
Obviously, I meant “NOW if they can only get…” Wish SAS had spell-check (you listening, Ben?) :0
Or instead of spell-check, perhaps he could add what many “message-board” type of websites already have:
A function allowing the poster to edit or delete his own post.
Or better yet, a function allowing posters to edit or delete OTHER peoples’ postings. That’d be sweet!
So the workers were supposed to take these bags up to the street. To be collected by who? The trash collected off the tracks and in orange backs is not collection able to be picked up by the Dept of Sanitation. Does transit have some trash vehicles in their fleet we don’t know about?
Something smells like scapgoat in this whole story.
I’m totally guessing here, but I’d think the “garbage trains” would take the trash to various railroad yards throughout the system. No need to bring the trash up to street level, just take it to the yard at the end of the line and put them in a central dumpster where the bags can be picked up and hauled away.
The reason they don’t do that now is because there is just too much trash collected from the tracks. I agree with you. That would be the best option, but it’s logistically flawed due to the sheer volume of trash being collected from the road bed. Bags would be left on the platform.
This is exactly why I’ve seen in the near past orange bags left on the track bed in between columns for up to a month at times.
Nothing like exposure to the news media to shake things up and cause improvements. So supervisors now know they’re being watched and will find themselves in deep *&^% for ordering workers to put trash on trains in revenue service.