The MTA is expanding its trash can removal program to eight more stations for the next six months, two apiece in every borough except for Staten Island.

The program, which originated in two stations last fall, is based on the notion that less trash in the subway system will mean fewer rats in the subway system. The MTA first removed trash cans from the Flushing-Main Street stop on the 7 line and from the 8th Street R stop.

And the results from this pilot program are in: The MTA reports an improvement in cleanliness, no increase in track fires, a 67 percent decrease in trash bags at the Flushing-Main Street 7 station in Queens, and a 50 percent decrease at the 8th Street R station in Manhattan.

NYC Transit removes 14,000 tons of trash from the subway each year. But according to the MTA, “trash sometimes accumulates in storage rooms and on platforms while waiting to be removed.” The MTA has tried several other measures, including tamper-proof receptacles and reinforcing storage rooms, but to no avail.

As Metro reported last October, one result of the program would be fewer refuse trains needed to pick up trash from all 359 stations nightly.

Is it too much to hope that this cost-saving measure will save us non-litterers from 2013’s 7.5 percent fare hike? (Probably, yes.)