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Are MTA Cops Turning A Blind Eye To Subway Littering?
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 23, 2011
Modified Mar 23, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 23, 2011
Modified Mar 23, 2011
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The Daily News is all over this subway eating debate, following up today with an article examining the enforcement, or lack thereof, of litterbugs. In discussing a possible subway food ban earlier this week, an MTA board member blamed the system's rat and track fire problem to food-related litter. But the MTA seems torn over whether to outlaw underground eating, and in the meantime, they're having a harder time cleaning up after all these animals.
MTA budget cuts slashed cleaning staff by about 200 - or 9% - since 2007, the News reports. This may explain why the lingering aroma of human feces plagued the Herald Square subway station for so many weeks. And while transit police have demonstrated their commitment to enforce the no feet on the seats rules, tickets for littering plummeted 34 percent last year.
MTA stats show tickets issued to 1,812 subway users last year, down from 2,769 the year before. The problem with this stat, however, is that the violation code for littering is the same for urinating, so it's impossible to know whether enforcement is down, littering is down, or micturating is minimized. But track fires are an ongoing problem for the subway system, as are rats. One commuter tells the News, "The other morning, I saw a huge rat carrying a plastic bag with a sandwich in it." And the lack of subway recycling receptacles means that bag is there to stay.
Tagged
eating subway
food
food subway
litter
MTA
recycling
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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