Last year, Comptroller Scott Stringer looked into the subway system's cleanliness, and chose not to mince words when describing it as, "a daily stomach-turning insult." Well, never let it be said the MTA will take an insult lying down—they just announced an intensive track cleaning program they're calling "Operation Track Sweep."
The cleaning program was announced with a video featuring a cartoon MTA worker—who manages to have a New Yawk accent that's part burly blue-collar Queens guy and Woody Allen—explaining the program over a soundtrack of soothing jazz saxophone:
The video's merit as a film aside, the announced clean-up effort will consist of an intensive cleaning of all 469 stations, which will involve 500 workers picking up trash over two weeks starting September 12. The authority plans to introduce three new vacuum cars starting next year and test out portable track vacuums as well.
The MTA also announced that they've increased the number of station cleanings every two weeks to 94, up from 34. So with any luck, there'll be fewer track fires and delays due to track fires, the subway floor will be clean enough to be under the jurisdiction of the five-second rule, and video's narrator won't have to talk about failure with his analyst.
