Rats are all over the City and difficult to control, but I do think banning food on trains, buses and subway platforms would help combat the problem. I'm sure this would make some straphangers angry, but it would relieve others, not only from the rats, but from the horrid odors some of these foods have. I never really did understand why someone would want to eat on a subway car or while standing on the platform. It seems so unsanitary to me...like eating in a bathroom. Like Senator Bill Perkins said, in Washington, eating and drinking is prohibited on the Metro, and those trains and stations are immaculate compared to the ours.

Watch your step. Straphangers are on the lookout for rats after a woman was attacked by one while sitting on a train this morning. The woman was either bitten or scratched by the rat after she got on a Queens bound A train at Columbus Circle. The woman was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital; her condition is unknown at this time.

The MTA says it’s extremely rare to see a rat on a subway car. The agency released a statement saying supervisors will be conducting additional inspections and notifying cleaners of any issues. It says workers routinely clean subway cars, station platforms and tracks of debris that may attract rodents. It also says it uses rodent resistant trash cans and routinely power washes platforms. The agency went on to say it uses pest control contractors and in-house exterminating forces to bait tracks and non-public station areas. The MTA then reminded riders not to eat in subways or on buses, and if they do, to place their garbage in trash cans.

Have you ever seen a rat in a subway car? Do you think the MTA does enough to combat the rat problem in subways? How clean is your train, bus or subway station? Do you think riders should be banned from eating on trains and platforms?

Send your thoughts using the e-mail link above.

Rats maybe rare to passengers inside a subway car, but it's pretty regular to anyone who works around them,they actually live inside the panels of the car body, another way to keep warm and sometimes a good source for food, so what's horrifying for you, is routine for a subway worker.

Robert

Although I’ve never seen a rat inside a subway car, I’ve seen them on the platforms and forget about the number on the tracks, it’s time for the MTA to tackle this situation with the seriousness it merits and time for New Yorkers to clean-up their act.

Felix Bay Ridge

There are rats all over the city, always have been. One late night I saw a family of rats crawl out from bushes by the church on Broadway & 79th St, where the No 1 stops. First the mother, then one after the other tiny little rats crossed the street and went straight into the subway grate.

Arlene
Sheepshead Bay

What a horrible experience to have happen to anyone.

Again the MTA runs off their laundry list of the daily routines of their workers.

So I guess all of the MTA workers have been doing their jobs since the last time
the topic of discussion was about the faulty MTA workers.

Listen we don’t believe you and we never will believe you people that run the MTA.

This filth in the subways along with the rats and whatever else exists on top and underground has been an on going problem. So I ask a question what does this panel
do or what have they done for us lately to keep the high cost of fares that we have
to continually pay for over and over again and never get any service from them.

I have seen two new buses that I happen to be on a few weeks ago. They had debris
on the floor and children came into the crowded bus with ices and drinks dripping all
over.

Has anything changed, I don’t think so. We just keep going round and round and keep
discussing the same subjects which are in reality hardships to us all that have to use
any public transportation.

I DO HOPE THE LADY IS DOING WELL AND I WISH HER LUCK.

maxxiee
mp

Columbus Circle is my home station. There have been plenty of rats there for as long as I can remember. I've never seen a rat in a subway car, yet. Unfortunately people continue to eat and leave their trash everywhere. I've a feeling that the rats are winning.

Peace, Nick
Hell's K.

I have been taking the subway for almost 50 years. I don't think the rat problem is any better or worse and I have never seen a rat on a car. With 5 million riders a day and never hearing about a rat issue I seriously doubt this is a problem.

Rich
Midtown East

Never saw a rat on a subway car. But many on the tracks. Tourists find them amusing.

I think it’s ok to eat snacks on board and drink water or soda. But take your trash with you when departing and dispose of it.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

I appeared on "The Call" back in 2007, and was wondering...how do I go about getting an archive tape of the segment? (It does *not* appear to be online).

Joanna

This unfortunate incident is the inevitable consequence of cutting station cleaners systemwide, cutting car cleaners at terminals and in storage yards, cutting track cleaners, the two vacuum trains constantly out of service, and the failure of some of the 5 million daily passengers to follow the rules and not eat in the subways, leaving half-eaten meals underneath the seats in subway cars, or tossed onto the tracks.

The situation won't change until the cops and the MTA start punishing the slobs with tickets and fines, and the MTA boosts cleaners coverage systemwide.

PETE FROM MANHATTAN

I'm not blaming The MTA, but...

The underground stations in the outer boroughs smell terribly of urine and feces. All the time.

So do the trains. The trains are filthy and smell. It's reprehensible.
And food should be a no-no.

Mary --- Yonkers

The MTA needs to speed up it's Fast Track program. How do they expect to stay ahead of the filthy and crumbling subway conditions when train lines are put on a 2 year maintenance cycle?

Steve
Forest Hills

I am a regular passenger on the (L) line and MTA has been doing there job by cleaning the tracks. They are doing a program called "Fastrack" They clean up tracks fix signals and tracks but the problem is alot of customers throw trash in the subway instead of thowing there trash in the Garbage. If customers do there part by using the Garbage bins in the stations then maybe it will be more cleaner in the subway.

Wilfredo
Williamsburg Brooklyn

Isn't there already a law banning open beverages on subways & platforms? Why isnt it enforced? How many sticky floors are an open buffet for the rats

Denise

I wonder how long it will take our Mayor to get on a soapbox and call for the NYPD to issue tickets for eating in the subways, now that we "suddenly" have a rat problem in the subways.

Ryan
Arden Heights

I believe that riders should not eat on the subway, because as one of the most famous tourist cities, the subway is one of the most filthy. Tourists are interested in riding the subway as well and seeing rats and other pesticides are not attractive, this is a way of pushing them away.

Crystal
Ozone Park

Riders are to blame for all the rats in subways. The garbage did not magically appear on the subways. Riders create the garbage that keep the rats alive. It is easy to blame the MTA but the riders should be responsible for properly disposing their garbage even if it means bringing it home.

Also, riders should not be allowed to eat or drink on the subway since the majority of riders have not demonstrated the willingness to clean up after themselves.

Finally, rats live on the scraps that pigs leave behind.

John
Bronx, NY

I cannot handle the rats in the subway or out of the subway in NYC. It is a public health hazard. MTA and every other public sanitation administration including the mayor needs to deal with it!!!

Alex

THURSDAY, I WAS WAITING FOR THE L TRAIN ON 14TH STREET AND UNION SQUARE IT WAS LATE IN THE EVENING, I NOTICE THAT AT LEAST 2 GARAGE CONTAINERS WERE OVERFLOWN WITH GARBAGE, AND I WAS WONDERING TO MYSELF, WAS THESE CONTAINERS EVERY EMPTY TODAY.

Mlcanty

I think food should be prohibited in the subways to combat the rat problem and I think that people should be fined if they're eating on the subways and platforms. Do you really need to keep showing the rats?!?! It's very disturbing to watch!

Debbie from Flushing

The rat problem in NY is horrible, almost every station has rats and of people would stop leaving food and trash on the trains we wouldn't have this problem.

Luis
Far Rockaway

my stop at bedord ave have many rats and never see many workers cleaning the tracks ever. they should ban food

will
williamsburg

The stations need to be power cleaned. They are deeply dirty with biological waste. Their should be a ban on eating in the transportation system.
The MTA is not doing enough the clean thr dirty trains and stations.

IT IS GROSS.
Jake Manhattan

Although I agree that they need to clean better, people are pigs and they are constantly eating on the platform, tossing their food onto the tracks. Of course, in better neighborhoods there is better public behavior so you'll see less of them.

However, Emperor Bloomberg should raise funds by fining those that spit in public. I am much more concerned about getting hepatitis than having a terrified rat run past me as the result of people leaving food everywhere.

Jessica, Kew Gardens

I think that Mayor Bloomberg should address the problem of obesity and prolific breeding in the rat population of New York City. He should make sure they all get less to eat and practice birth control. How he could do this is to crack down hard on the litter laws. For every pile of litter there's a litter of rats calling it a banquet. If he could focus on the litter louts and really enforce the laws pertaining to such, he would cut down on the rat population significantly. It would also give his little mind a rest and give us a rest from his confounded obsessions about how much we eat and what we eat. Just make sure we don't eat on the trains or platforms and don't leave our food containers in the street. End of story.

Frances
East Village

This is the track and partial view of the platform at Sutphin Blvd/ JFK Airport Station.

This is an absolute disgrace. I travel extensively and use this station weekly having NEVER seen it power washed.

Underground stations overseas are NEVER this filthy.

This is shameful.

Gerri

I'm glad you guys are taking the time to focus on this topic tonight. As a fellow New Yorker, I've joked with others how the rats in the city, will eventually take over NYC. I'm starting to see that is becoming true. Its disgusting, and everyone is to blame. Putting a ban on food/drinks is not realistic, but people need to be responsible and walk the few feet to the nearest trash can to throw away THEIR trash.

And if MTA is going to have trash cans every 10ft, they shouldn't be waiting until they're "volcanoing" with trash. Many train stations have trash cans that are overflowing constantly, and for hours. The trash collection rooms in these stations need to be tighter than Fort Knox, they're very insecure. I've seen on a regular basis, dozens of rats swimming in these bins that hold bags of trash, they come in and out of these rooms effortlessly.

It's terrifying because some trains stop right in front of these rooms, and people have to face a room full of rats (like the Mnhtn Q train/ 34th st stop). The door has been left wide open numerous times, to the point I had to stop riding in that particular car.

Train stations look more like sewers, than a place where people are commuting to and from. We are making these stations very comfortable for rats to live. Dirty, murky, unsanitary conditions...great for rats, unacceptable for us.

Thanks
D.Jones

About a year ago, they removed 1 of the 2 garbage cans on the 190 A train platform.
I saw the same heart-shaped candy box on the tracks of the F train at the Carroll Gardens stop for weeks.

The cans at the Union Square train are over flowing. I call Union Square, Rat Park. I have watched rats "frolic" playing and run around the platform with people and run up and down the stairs.

But then one day, I watched a woman finish her food, crumple her garbage up, throw it on the floor and stuff it under the seat. I usually have some kind of problem on the A train and chose to pick my battles and say nothing. She then made small talk to a family with a baby, like she was the kindest old person ever. This woman a 50th something, white woman. She was not from this country. I was disgusted. All I wanted to do was stand up, look at this nice family and say, "Look what this woman just did. Your child is in here. She is not environmentally friendly. Shame her. Don't be nice to her!"

Kristine
washington heights

I wish Mayor Bloomberg would strengthen and enforce the anti-litter laws. It would be a nice distraction for him and give us a break!

Vicki
Manhattan