Annual Survey Finds R Trains Rank, L Trains Losing Luster

Photo taken by areacode212 on flickr

It's a good thing the MTA Bailout saved the W train from saying farewell because it sounds like its neighboring buddy line the R has already had enough dumped onto it lately. The tenth annual "subway shmutz" survey released today by the Straphangers Campaign rated the R the dirtiest line in the system with only 25 percent of its cars clean.

The L Train might need to bring in some Rosie-esque cleaning services to go along with its Roboconductors after dropping over 25 percentage points to a 62 percent cleanliness rating after leading the way for all lines in last year's report. Lines which feature the fancy new cars with their digital readouts and periwinkle sheen were clearly no guarantees for cleanliness as the N also had a dramatic drop, suffering the steepest decline and featured the second-to-worst conditions in the system.

Leading the way in shmutz report is the 7 train which came in as having 84 percent of its cars clean. The J train pulled out the biggest improvement in the study, going from having 33 percent of its cars rated clean last year all the way up to 78 percent in the current report. Numbers across the board were up overall with 57 percent of trains being marked clean versus an even 50 last year.

The Straphangers' assessment provides a dramatically different view than the MTA's own cleanliness report, which most recently claimed that 91 percent of its cars were up to snuff. The Straphangers say that the methodology of the two studies is very similar so they're not sure what would cause such a gap. Trains are broken down to lightly dirty, moderately dirty or a heavily dirty rating—saved for cars with rolling bottles or seats out of commission. That last condition might have led to the declines of the L and the G trains, where commuters had spotted rats and roaches roaming freely inside cars right around the same time the Straphangers were conducting this year's survey.

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By Billy Parker in News on June 25, 2009 3:03 PM

Comments [rss]

areacode212

Thanks for using my pic!

jibbly

I'm not sure if my tolerance for filth has gone up or if the D train has become cleaner.

spiritross

When it comes to public transit

In the battle between cleanliness and timeliness

I choose timeliness every time.

If misses some garbage means the train turns around quicker

so be it.

The subway is still the best it has ever been.

Dude69

What do you expect from a hipster filled train like the L? They can't even keep themselves and their homes clean of PBR cans and cig butts?!

holy

give me a break.

you sound like someone who has only read about brooklyn online from the midwest. latfh.com is not a source of factual information.

Dude69

Please go back to OH with your trust fund, moron, and don't drop your trucker hat on your way out of Billyburg!

just saying

Jump to conclusions much? Ohio, trust fund, moron, trucker hat? You've got a whole story going on in your insipid head.

Wza

I blame both the passengers and the MTA.

whitecastlerock

I agree. Many riders in Queens are from third world countries-so they treat the subways like their homelands. Newspapers, food containers, shopping bags, spilled drinks are just left on the seats and on the floor. People spit sunflower seeds on the ground and leave half eaten chicken bones under the seats. It is disgusting. While the MTA needs to scrape the stalactites of filth from the overhead beams on the platform, the passengers need to behave like members of civilization.

Snoopy

Now Now. It's only a cultural conflict that you are talking about. It's similar to the black on black crime that we see every day her in NYC and across the nation. Different strokes for different tribes.

Look at all the great African countries that after shucking their colonial rule have made such successful advances for the well being of their inhabitants.

Try dialing in Haiti to see how well they are doing.

Steven

The MTA is finally bringing in new trains cars on the E line. No more shitty R32 with their broken AC and loud break noise.

Jen S

I live at the N/W terminal and have seen cleaning crews letting blatantly filthy/stank cars leave the station. So it's Coney or Whitehall's problem now?

palestine

I think the L train is pretty clean most of the time. The only bad part is the exteriors from when kids throw shit at the trains when they're in the yards.

The worst in my opinion are the A, C and E trains, it always smells like piss and the floors are nasty as hell.