We’ve all seen people eat on the train. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, everyone has done it. The food could range from a small granola bar or a packet of fruit snacks the little kid sells to supposedly support his basketball team to a full course meal, fancy enough that one would think the MTA is a traveling 2-star restaurant. In a city where everyone always has somewhere to be but trains regularly stand them up, it is understandable why New Yorkers turn to comfort food in times of stress and have no choice but to eat on the subway. But an entire box of “Crunch ‘n Munch Buttery Toffee”? No wonder “Pizza Rat” is the official mascot of the MTA.
Sure, it’s convenient to eat or drink on the train but it’s inconvenient when Starbucks cups, half empty chip bags, or styrofoam containers are left throughout the subway system. Not only is this unsanitary and attracts vermin, but it produces waste that either gets left on the subway car until an MTA Maintainer can clean it up, or gets taken by Pizza Rat’s family and cousins. Not to mention the litter causes track fires that disrupt the commute of millions of New Yorkers. My uncle, an MTA train dispatcher, made it clear that track fires are no joke and occur when the trains quickly run over the heaps of trash on the tracks. 671 garbage-related track fires took place in 2017, despite the MTA spending $836 million on trying to fix problems like this.
So how can we increase the resiliency of the MTA, food waste wise? Former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota proposed banning food on the subway but it proved unenforceable in NYC. Education may help. It’s not only the MTA’s responsibility to get things back on track (no pun intended) but ours as well, as we can keep our food packaging to ourselves, bring and eat less messy foods on trains, and actually use the trash bins instead of subways platforms and cars as means of garbage disposal. Maybe then we can decrease delays and increase MTA efficiency.
I agree that garbage, leftover food, vermin are all the products of humans not being environmentally conscious of the consequences that their actions produce. While there can be legislation passed or education taught to not litter, throw away, what can happen such as track fires, I do believe it is a good ideal. However, in practice, I feel that it will be super problematic, or it won’t be successful. To be honest, I don’t have an alternative that is better, however, I do think that those original ideas can be improved to help in the big picture of things.
I agree with Kay. Those ideas, theoretically, are a great idea, but it’s just not possible in NYC. I think this whole issue has to do with culture and respect more so than implementing new laws to enforce people to do things. Subway systems in other countries, namely Japan – and numerous other European/Asian transit systems – don’t ban food from their systems, yet their subway cars are spotless. Like the MTA, they simply have trash cans at each station. People in Asia/Europe simply care more about their environment and cleanliness than a lot of Americans; people will hold onto their trash and wait until there’s a trash can to throw things out. Sadly, not a lot of Americans/New Yorkers care about this and simply discard their stuff in the train carts, which usually result in sticky/crumbly/unsightly messes, or into the train tracks, which can cause fires and delays.