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The Straphangers have released their annual Subway Shmutz survey for 2006, and the E and M lines have the dirtiest cars! If you remember last year's survey, the 1/9 was the worst, and the year before that, the C was grossest, so Gothamist can only imagine that the Subway Shmutz survey will cycle around to name all the lines the worst - at least the ones with the old subway cars.
Anyway, the Straphangers feel that subway are getting dirtier, with 15 lines having significant deterioration (2, 7, A, B, C, D, E, G, J/Z, L ,M, N, R, V and W; amusingly, the F's status stayed the same.) This is probably because the NYC Transit Authority cut its cleaning budget in order to save money, so naturally the Straphangers' suggestions include "devote more resources" to cleaning up cars the way the NYCTA does stations and tracks (sometimes, we think).
Have you noticed your subway cars getting dirtier? It's rainy days like these where you see the grossness of the floors - which makes us wonder what kind of highpowered cleaners they use for when the train cars are in the yards.
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The E??? I think the R is worse then the E train. The J train is shitty too.
"the way the NYCTA does stations and tracks"-in Manhattan maybe certainly not in the outer boroughs
Litterers should be forced to do community service cleaning up subway cars and stations. Last year I watched a very obese woman eat a take out container of chicken wings and discard the bones on the floor of the subway car. Gross!
The blame is on the TWU workers most of which are as lazy as they were in the 1970's.
Thats why obese people shouldnt be allowed on the subway. They litter and their weight damages the tracks.
Not to mention they take up three extra seats. Why cant they just roll to work?
the 1 this morning was extra foul. i stepped on a half unwrapped brownie while dodging a drooling man. and someone had spilled a coffee all over the seats.
The E is a disgusting train. It's always littered with all manner of trash. The MTA is really asleep at the switch when it comes to cleaning this line. And why must it be a rolling homeless shelter every winter?
Yes, the J train is a total shit-box
The A, C, E are really dirty. I think there are lots of homeless on the A because it's such a long line - right?
It's weird - I'm definitely less grossed-out by somebody drinking than eating on the train, yet a spill does so much more damage than somebody leaving food in that the spill goes everywhere and is sticky/unavoidable.
I was in a 1/9 station on Saturday night when they were "mopping" the place. By mopping, I mean, a lady with a bucket of filthy water dragged an old mop behind her in a near straight line and the proclaimed herself done. It's like the way I did my chores when I was 12.
funny stuff
No one should be allowed to eat/drink once they pass through that turnstile. They should ticket more people to get the message across. If someone sits down next to me with a bag of McDonald's I'll get up and move between cars [also illegal now, but totally worth it].
Miss Subways always says that Courtesy in Contagious.
When you see someone litter, you should take the initiative to ever-so-politely remind them to pick up their goddamn trash.
Likewise, when you see someone set an empty bottle on the floor, you can charmingly suggest that they deposit the bottle in the closest station receptable upon exiting the train. Empty bottles will roll and break when the train stops, in which case you would be more than happy to shove the broken shards up their fucking asshole.
And finally, when you happen to see someone get off the train and mistakely leave their AM New York on the seat, a responsible straphanger would exit the train with the stranger, gag his/her mouth with the discarded paper, slam the person's head against the nearest pole, and hold his/her head over the edge of the platform as the next train approaches. You can kindly remind this person that litter can cause track fires which delay trains, so please deposit papers in the garbage cans, bitch.
Why does "it takes a village" only seem to mean that we pay high taxes to have civil servants clean up other people's messes (literally in this case)? It's one thing if you're down on your luck and need public assistance but it's another thing altogether to be a lazy shit that can't even walk the extra distance to a garbage can.
It seems to span all income groups, too. In my "luxury rental" building the fresh out of college, daddy cosigned my lease crowd can't even throw their trash out properly. They can get it to the trash room but tying up the bag and putting it down the chute is just too much work. Better to let some minimum wage janitor mop it up for you. And to the guy putting his used cat litter in the paper recycling bin, when I find out which apartment you live in I am going to make you my bitch.
c-town is a hybrid of Miss Manners and Patrick Bateman.
if they banned drinking in the subway there would be a fucking riot by morning coffee drinkers (myself included)
It’s a New York thing. Too many New Yorkers are fucking slobs, and that’s just plain sad. We have the most shitty & rancid subway system on the planet.
In Tokyo the trains are ridiculously clean, and the amazing thing about it is that there are hardly any trashcans in sight. (They removed a lot of them after the Sarin nerve gas attack). Yet there are trashcans EVERYWHERE in NY yet people are too fuckin LAZY to get up and put their crap in the can.
People don’t eat on the trains, don’t talk on the phone even if there’s service, and will stare at you like your insane if you do.
But then we don’t have the woman gropers they do. And we dont read porn mangas on the subways either.
I haven't noticed too much more trash ON the train, but the stations themselves (especially L/6th Ave & Union Square) have been smelling more and more like human feces. Nasty.
tee-hee, c-town, you read my mind.
seriously, people on the subway are freaking animals. if i see one more person clip their nasty fingernails or toenails at 8am... fuggedabodit.
it makes me wonder if this is their "good" behavior in public, what the ef are they like at home?
i once saw someone eating froot loops out of a ceramic bowl with a metal spoon on the subway. which made me wonder: did they bring the cereal *with* the milk in the bowl to the subway or did they add it *after* they got on? either way: gah!
I threw up on the E train once, but I didnt bother cleaning it up. Does that make me a bad person?
If the MTA has a budget surplus as has been discovered recently, why don't they restore more funding to cleaning the subways duh?
Maybe instead of more funding, the MTA can have people walk through the subways and write out tickets for fines for people who are caught littering, or as suggested by it takes a village, force litterers to do community service cleaning the subways.
The nail-clipping thing is incredible - I've seen it happen at least 5 times. I also watched a woman change her baby right on the seat. Thanks, asshole.
Simply adding more cleaning crews is a short term solution. How about people actually take responsibility for themselves and their city?
And I suspect you can't really tell how a person is at home from their public behavior. I'm sure some of these people are slobs everywhere they go including home. And some of them are only slobs away from home because they figure it becomes someone elses problem.
Tom from Chelsea:
The E becomes a rolling homeless shelter every winter because it is completely underground, making it warmer during the cold months than other lines.
Wow, so the nail clipping thing is epidemic! I have seen it twice and just thought it was a bizarre coincidence, both times it was an eldery Asian woman, though not the same one. What the hell! In what world (or Asian country) is this appropriate?
Nail clipping is gross! The times I have seen it has been a total mix: man, woman, young, old, black, white...
I see it at least once a month.
Yeah, the nail clipping happens far too often. What's worse is when they start gnawing away at their cuticles. Bleaggghh!
I skeeve putting my hands anywhere near my mouth once I'm on the subway. :-0
Jeebus said:
"But then we don’t have the woman gropers they do."
Um, yes we do. And there are guys who stand in front of you (if you're seated) with their crotches practically shoved in your face. It's like they're saying, "Suck my cock, bitch!"
Lovely.
The MTA cut the cleaning budget? Wasn't t he first step down the slippery slope back in the 70's?
Although I agree with what seems to be the vast majority here, people really need to take responsibility. Stop being such friggin' slobs. Care about your city a little bit!
P.S. In addition to an all-out chicken wings ban, they should ban sunflower seeds as well. If I have to watch one more cow spit seeds on to the floor, I'm going to have to cut them.
I~ve seen the nail-clipping twice here in Brazil and it seems to be acceptable. Once on a bus and the other time on a ferry.
Margaret: all kinds of things are acceptable in Asian countries that are seen as disgusting/unacceptable here. For example: hocking loogies on the sidewalk. Gross? Yeah. Totally common in Chinatown? Absolutely.
I know that sounds like I'm singling a particular group out (i.e. being racist), but I'm sorry - I live down here, and it's just plain true.
One of my subway pet peeves doesn't really cause a mess, but is still unbelieveable in my opinion: women caking on layer after layer of makeup on the subway. It's like, hello? Can't you take the time to do that at home? No one wants to watch you cover up your zits.
Here's a little bit of random Asian trivia from a non-Asian (so it may be wrong - but hey, it's entertaining). I read that Chinese people spit because they believe an evil spit god lives in their throats and if they don't hawk loudly and spit often it will choke them.
Can anyone confirm that? Or is it just BS?
MT: wow, if that were true, it would explain why the little old man who lives upstairs is always hocking loogies in the stairwell of my apartment building.
Do you guys have "hobo corners" on your trains? They're the worst. Degenerates and crazies in Chicago use these out-of-the-way spaces on the Red Line to do drugs, have sex and relieve themselves.
http://www.ctatattler.com/2004/10/life_in_the_hob.html
Most seasoned Chicagoans who are not crazy know to NEVER sit in the hobo corner because you never know who will join you.
The E is pretty filthy (I take it to work every morning), but I must say besides being dirty, it's the STENCH OF FECES AND URINE AND VOMIT when the doors open that is most repulsive to me. I literally hold my breath the entire time the train is stopped at 51st and 5th every day because I'm afraid my gag reflex will get the best of me. And everyone knows that the stench is magnified on rainy days. *vomit*
Kojak, I totally barfed on the N train too once and didn't clean it up. But I was sick! I had a virus! What can you do.
Nail clipping is the worst, shit flies all over the place.
Once I was seated across from a nail clipper so I took out my camera and blatantly started taking shots of him. I was dying for him to ask me what I was doing, but instead he just stopped, which was good also.
Nothing like fried rice jammed in your shoe..you drag it all the way home...disgusting..I have witnessed the nail clippers and even a man spitting on the train..three times with different people..sunflower seeds...chicken wing leftovers..
the cleaning people don't do enough so called "cleaning"..or if they DO clean it only lasts for about two stops..
The E??? I think the R is worse then the E train. The J train is shitty too.
[1] Posted by: Kojak | May 16, 2006 11:54 AM
The R is slow and infrequent (didn't they used to say that N and R stood for ?Never" and "Rarely") but it's pretty clean. I see the cleaning guys working on the Brooklyn end, every time a train comes in.
No one should be allowed to eat/drink once they pass through that turnstile. They should ticket more people to get the message across. If someone sits down next to me with a bag of McDonald's I'll get up and move between cars [also illegal now, but totally worth it].
[12] Posted by: cdjames | May 16, 2006 01:22 PM
There are new rules against this and people are being ticketed but, frankly, I think the new rules represent another diminution of the New York lifestyle
I like that we eat and drink on the run.
I'd rather have our freewheeling mess than a "clean" subway like they have in DC, without any heart.
BTW, my last comment notwithstanding, I'm repulsed by the nail clipping, etc. and think people should throw out their trash.
Re. the winter "homeless shelter" issue: I noticed this year that they didn't seem to be turning the heat on on most of the trains, even during the depths of winter. A transit worker told me it was to make the trains less comfortable for the homeless -- the TA figured "respectable" people would be wearing coats anyway and not really need the heat.
I never heard anyone complain. I never even heard anyone else mention that they noticed it.
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