According to the rules of MTA, there is no ban on eating, but having any open container of liquid IS banned: http://mta.info/nyct/rules/rules.htm

Maybe it's just me, but I think that eating in transit or while walking down the street is tacky. In closed quarters, like the subway I also think it's rude. I think the fine for littering in the system should be upped to at least $250, with 30 hours community service cleaning platforms on the night shift. And I think eating should be banned (baby bottles and breast feeding excluded, gum and mints Ok when disposed of properly). I am amazed at the slovenliness of many riders. Save your sandwich, Whopper, Popeye's or funky asian stuff until you get wherever you're going. You won't starve along the way.

Eating while walking or in transit is bizarre. I have a Brazilian friend who was horrified the first time she came to the U.S. and saw people eating while walking. I can't say it bothers me THAT much (though I agree it's tacky), but my friend still thinks it's the height of classlessness.

Coming from a country that praises those who get cosmetic surgery, I'm surprised anything is classless to her.

Haha! Yeah, I can't argue with that and neither would she. As I foreigner, I must say that America seems to have a pretty solid obsession with plastic surgery as well. I had never heard a radio commercial for breast enhancement surgery until I came to the U.S. for my job interview.

Please tell this to the geniuses who are opening up a deli at the 86th & Lex subway station. It's not on the subway platform, but down the first set of stairs (before you get to turnstile level). I understood the barber, the shoeshine, the key guy, the newspaper guy, but putting deli products there? Ick. Asking for trouble.

Rats are pretty innocuous. Bed bugs are like the freaking nuclear option for insects. Eradicating rats is easy Bed bugs next to impossible. Spend my tax dollars on killing bed bugs.

So you would rather throw money at an impossible, possibly never-ending task with unlimited funds than a possible one? Hand this man a guv-a-ment job.

The construction on the second avenue line is probably forcing rats to move from their previously secluded spots to other locations. Makes sense they'd pick our filthy subways full of leftovers.

And, while I support a ban on food in the subways, it's a logistical nightmare to enforce. The MTA would need to up the amount of transit cops that are on patrol in the subway - at least one for every station - checking both platforms for offenders.

While that level of attention would probably also cut down on serious crime in the subway, which I'm in favor of, it's not going to happen. Just spraying poison is a much cheaper alternative.

The PATH has a food ban and there are still rats there.

Because the PATH is connected to the rat-infested subway. In Japan it's considered dishonorable (or something) to eat in public places like trains or even on the street. They'll drink when they're thirsty, but only eat in restaurants and at home.

That said, banning food on the subway would only get the rats out of the subway and back onto the streets where there's all that delicious garbage lying on the streets.

Am I the only one who remembers the signs all over NYC subways and busses that said "No eating, drinking, smoking, spitting, or radio playing." When did this change? Plus, if one more person spills their coffee on me on the subway or bus again, I will make a scene. I am so sick of food and coffee all over the subway.

I recall standing near a "local" resident (I live in lower Manhattan) at the 125th st. station, and observing a plethora of rats on the tracks/floor.

This "gentleman" was loudly complaining (ie, HOLLERIN') about how "Da city don't don't do a DAMN thing about da RATS... yada yada yada... because Bloomberg is RACIST."

All the while, he was eating chicken wings & tossing the bones onto the floor - not the tracks, but the actual floor.

Perhaps some people need to make the slightest effort to help themselves first, I felt like mentioning, but then realized that any logic put forth would also be considered "racist"

I call bullshit! That story is a little too perfect.

I call bullshit! This story sounds a little too perfect.

You're racist for retelling a true story.

If they would only enforce existing littering laws it would probably fix the problem. I've seen countless people toss their leftover food and trash out the subway car onto the platform when the train is stopped at the station. They don't even aim for the trash. It's disgusting and I have never once seen them get in trouble for being pigs.

+1

I'd be cool with banning food, but I don't have a problem with people drinking on the subway, especially bottles of water. It's the goddamn litterers that are the real issue, and they'll throw any shit on the ground, not just food garbage.

rats aside, i have a general rule about food on the subway:

eating food in the subway is disgusting and so are the people who choose to do so.

The food bad is a start. I for one won't mind if the MTA ran the subways like Singaporeans.