In the wake of two small track fires that caused big delays, the MTA is pondering a drastic step in its long-running war on trash, one that may not be so appetizing to riders. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.

You can blame Monday's commuting mess, in the morning and at night, on garbage that ended up along the rails.

The two track fires Monday disrupted peak-hour commutes, on the A, B, C and D in the morning and the N, R and W at night. 

"You go down there, you see people dropping garbage like that. I saw a cop, he didn't do anything, didn't say anything. So people think it's normal," said one commuter.

On Tuesday, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said the agency now may consider banning certain types of food in the subway to cut down on trash-fueled fires.

"Some things work, some things don't," Lhota said. "It may be an education program about what types of food really shouldn't be brought on."

Straphangers NY1 spoke to aren't biting on the idea.

"I don't see it being very practical at all," said one commuter. "Are they going to have cops walk around telling people to put their food in the trash?"

But in a system strained by overcrowding, delays and aging equipment, the head of the MTA says riders also must do their part.

"This is the MTA that was put together for the common good of everyone, and to get us to work, to get us to school, to get to appointments. So we all have a need to be invested in it," Lhota said.

 The MTA in recent months has deployed a pair portable track vaccums on cleaning blitzes throughout the system and plans to buy more.

"The goal is no fires, plain and simple," Lhota said. "We've cut them by 90 percent or more. I want to get them cut down to close to zero as possible, if not zero."

That means taking trash with you, or putting it where it belongs.

While Lhota didn't go so far as to call New Yorkers subway slobs, he said riders do need to remember that trash cans are there for a reason.

"I still have a coffee cup when I get off the subway usually. I hold onto it when I finish my coffee, and I throw it out when I leave the train," he said.

That's into the trash, not onto the tracks.