New York City subway platforms are “bleak and dreary,” with cracked floors and broken lights, a new survey by the Straphangers Campaign found. The report, entitled “State Of The Platforms,” was the first time the advocacy group conducted a census of the city’s 862 platforms, CBSNewYork reported.
“Many subway platforms are bleak and dreary,” Straphangers Campaign’s Cate Contino told WCBS 880. The report highlighted exposed writing (24 percent of platforms), extensive graffitti (32 percent) and cracked floors (39 percent), CBS reported.
Contino told 1010 WINS, “Some of it is safety related, like floor cracks. And some of it is do you really want to be standing in a place every morning for a period of time where there’s water dripping on your head?” The group’s survey found that 82 percent of stations had significant water damage, some of which Contino attributed to superstorm Sandy.
Despite the gloomy report, the group lauded the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for its focus on repairs in the year since Sandy wreaked havoc on the subway system.
The survey also found a decline in rat sightings since last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The advocacy group searched for rats on 525 platforms and concluded that rodents could still be found at 13 percent of stations.
“We’re on a rat race trying to get to work and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to see a rat running alongside you,” Straphangers Campaign field organizer Jason Chin-Fatt said.
The Journal reported that the rodents are most visible in the Bronx, at approximately 21 percent of stations. Rodents were found in only 10 percent of subway stations in Manhattan. According to reports, the MTA is trying to curb rat reproduction and has stepped up its usage of rat poison.
According to CBS, the advocacy group sent a group of 20 staff members and interns to conduct the survey between June 4 and Aug. 21, 2013.