New York, NY —
Subway cars are getting dirtier.
That's the conclusion of the latest "Shmutz" survey by the Straphangers Campaign of the New York Public Interest Research Group. The probability of boarding a "clean" subway car fell from 57 percent in 2008 to an even 50-50 chance last year.
The M and the V lines fare the worst, with just one out of every three cars qualifying as clean. Those two lines are being combined into a new M line under a series of cuts that take effect June 28. It's unclear if New York City Transit will be able to use only the cleanest cars for the new service.
The No. 6 and the C line tied for first place, with 65 percent of cars rated as clean.
Attorney David Smith, who rides the C from his home downtown to his office near Times Square, says his train is a pleasure to ride. "There's always the rare opportunity when somebody has dropped a bottle or something is there. Things get cleaned up quickly. Things don't really linger on the C. I really love the line," Smith says.
The Straphangers surveyed 2,000 cars last fall. A clean car is one that has no or "light dirt," while dirty cars had dingy floors or sticky spots...or worse.
Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign blamed cuts to cleaning crews for the poor results. And those cuts are only going to get worse because the MTA is eliminating 113 cleaner positions this year.
New York City Transit acknowledges that with budget cuts, subway cars, "may not be as clean as our customers expect or deserve." They ask the public to help out by putting litter in wastebaskets.