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Many Subway Bathrooms Are "Overflowing With Filth"
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 12, 2010
Modified Apr 12, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 12, 2010
Modified Apr 12, 2010
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amNY visited all of the subway system's 129 bathrooms, reporting, "Many of the 129 restrooms in 77 of the system’s stations are overflowing with filth — if they are still open at all... Odors from the Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. station on the N caused an amNewYork reporter to feel faint during a recent visit." Specifically, at that station: "The smell of waste in this station was intolerable, plus the ceiling leaked." When you throw in regular eau de subway—shiver.
Almost half the bathrooms "were locked or converted to other station uses like storage" and then "a third [of open bathrooms] were frightening caverns of garbage, urine, standing water or unseemly smells" (subway bathrooms are closed between midnight and 5 a.m. for cleaning, but given that stations are gross...). And if you really need to go (like if you're trying to break a subway riding record), have a lot of Purell and a pack of Kleenex, since paper and soap are in short supply.
amNY runs down the best and worst of the stations—shockingly, the Times Square toilets don't make the cut for the best. Fun stuff: A few years ago, NY magazine also visited Manhattan subway bathrooms; there was once a group sex orgy at the Jay Street bathroom; and this is the nicest subway bathroom you'll ever see—naturally, it's in Glasgow.
Tagged
bathroom
cleaning
restroom
subway
subway bathroom
subway restroom
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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