amny.com
It seems ironic: to cut down on trash on subway platforms, the MTA is considering trashing garbage cans. The cash-strapped agency may remove all the cans from some platforms if everything goes well with a test-run underway at two stations. The MTA is banking on riders to take their trash with them, or simply bring less of it. If the pilot program — which began two weeks ago at the 8th Street N/R station and Flushing/Main Street No. 7 station — is successful over the next two months, it could roll out to other stations. “It’s just an experiment to see how much we can reduce the amount of refuse that we pick up,” said John Gaito, the MTA’s vice president and chief officer for subways. “We expect people to bring garbage, but we’d like them to bring less food. … Food attracts rodents.” The test is being done in response to the agency’s difficulty picking up the approximately 8,820 garbage bags each day across the system, Gaito said during Monday’s transit committee meeting. Eight trains and six trucks haul away trash each day at an annual cost of approximately $32 million, but refuse trains still miss one-in-three scheduled stops because they’re filled up or running late. The station cleaner at the 8th Street station likes the lack of trash bins, Gaito noted, but the cleaner at Main Street isn’t a fan because he has to personally tidy up after straphangers. “We don’t mind picking up things like newspapers,” Gaito said, adding they account for nearly half of all garbage collected. “We’d prefer papers instead of food.” Transit advocates and straphangers were left scratching their heads when they were told about the experiment.
I was never great at math in school but someone please correct me if I’m wrong. Garbage cans + subway = rat problem. No garbage cans + subway = no rat problem? But where does the garbage go then? Oh, on the tracks and on the actual subway cars themselves. Got it. Here is the line that you gotta love if you are a daily commuter: “The MTA is banking on riders to take their trash with them, or simply bring less of it.” Sometimes I’m just not sure if the people of MTA have ever actually been in the subway. On what planet do you think we live on that NYers will bring less trash into the subway because they are thinking ‘oh there’s no garbage cans down there I probably shouldn’t bring this with me.’ I’d love to see the result of your little experiment on 8th St. when people are being overrun and attacked by rats like those Cloverfield aliens.
And seriously MTA, if you’re so ‘cash strapped’ why the hell are you trying to install internet in the subways right now? Probably at the bottom of the list of things to do right now.
SubwayCreatures 