Subway stations win points for having garbage cans, but too many are plagued by graffiti, rats and water damage, a rider advocacy group found.
From July to September of last year, members of the New York City Straphangers’ Campaign monitored platforms at 120 randomly selected subway stations, 230 platforms in all.
They were looking for twelve specific conditions: the presence of garbage cans, overflowing garbage cans, large garbage bags, rats, graffiti, lighting, handrails and staircases, exposed wiring, peeling paint, water damage, floor cracks and missing tiles.
In a report released Thursday, titled “State of the Station Platforms,” the Straphangers’ Campaign published its findings.
“We found the good, the bad and the ugly — from no subway station platforms having overflowing garbage cans to clearly unacceptable conditions, such as peeling paint at three-quarters of the platforms observed,” said Jason Chin-Fatt who oversaw the survey.
Surveyors found rats at 11 percent of underground subway platforms, loads of graffiti at 20 percent of all platforms, and exposed wiring at 28 percent of all platforms.
But it gets worse. Straphangers’ Campaign surveyors found broken light fixtures at 50 percent of all subway stations and substantial peeling paint at 79 percent of all platforms observed.
The stations surveyed represent 28 percent of the system’s 909 station platforms.
Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyAEpstein
