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Subway Smells Ya Smell Now and Later
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 7, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 7, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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After a report by NY1, the MTA is going to fix the broken sump pump at the 51st Street and Lexington Avenue 6 (with a connection to the E, F, V) stop. The riders' reaction to the smell are hilarious:
- "It smells like a backed-up bathroom."
- "It smells like a dead body."
- "It smells like a sewer. Like a broken sewer."
- "You feel like you're gonna faint."
- "You can be in a good mood, and all of a sudden you're in a bad mood."
And it's sad, because we've been in that station and we can practically smell it with just the power of suggestion. What's typically stupid-MTA is that the sump pump has been broken/out of service for a year, which, NY1 reports, leaves "standing water to collect and stagnate in the elevator shaft." Blech. Why isn't the Department of Health on this?
A few weeks ago, the NY Sun had a great article about why the subway stinks so bad: It's because the NYC Transit uses biodegradable oils (like soybean oil) to "lubricate the hydraulic lifts in 98 elevators across the city's 468 stations." Okay, that only accounts for the stations with the elevators. But Gothamist is stumped as to where the horrible smell on the 1/2/3 line around 50th and 59th Streets is coming from - there are no elevators there.
What do you think is the smelliest subway station?
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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