Straphangers Rate Station Conditions
The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign issued last Thursday, Feb. 2, its first-ever “State of the Station Platforms” survey, finding conditions ranging from “the good” (100 percent of platforms with garbage cans present and no overflowing cans), “the bad” (28 percent of platforms with exposed wiring), to “the ugly” (79 percent of underground platforms with substantial amounts of peeling paint).
In all, the Straphangers Campaign released findings on 12 subway platform conditions, including the presence of garbage cans, overflowing garbage cans, large garbage bags, rats, graffiti, lighting, handrails and staircases, exposed wiring, peeling paint, water damage, floor cracks, and missing tiles.
The survey was based on observations of 250 station platforms at 120 randomly-selected subway stations by 14 interns and staff between July 11 and Sept. 24, 2011. This number represents 28 percent of the total of 909 New York City subway station platforms systemwide.
Observations were made weekdays, between morning and evening rush-hour periods.
“We found the good, the bad and the ugly, from no subway station platforms having overflowing garbage cans to clearly unacceptable conditions, such as peeling paint at three quarters of the platforms observed,” said Jason Chin-Fatt, the Straphangers Campaign organizer who oversaw the survey.
In general, the survey sought to catalogue conditions for which the campaign felt transit officials could fairly be held accountable and were not overly time or weather sensitive. For example, we did not rate the presence of litter.
In its most positive results, the survey found the following:
– 100 percent of surveyed station platforms observed had garbage cans;
– zero percent of these cans were found to be overflowing; and
– just six percent of the time our surveyors observed large garbage bags on the platforms.
The straphangers classified the remaining results either as “bad” or “ugly.” A measurement result was deemed “bad” if it was observed in at least 10 percent of the platforms, but less than half the time. That would mean a rider might come across these conditions one to five in ten times while using these platforms.
Measurements were deemed “ugly” if they were observed 50 percent of the time or more.
Among the “bad” conditions were the following:
– rats at 11 percent of underground station platforms observed, including roadbeds;
– staircases or handrails in disrepair at 15 percent of all the platforms observed;
– substantial areas of missing tile at 15 percent of all the observed platforms;
– substantial graffiti at 20 percent of all the platforms observed, including walls and stairways;
– exposed wiring at 28 percent of all the platforms observed; and
– substantial floor cracks at 33 percent of all the platforms observed.
Among the “ugly” conditions were:
– broken lighting fixtures at 50 percent of underground platforms observed;
– substantial water damage at 53 percent of underground platforms observed; and
– substantial peeling paint at 79 percent of underground platforms observed.
MTA New York City Transit does its own twice-a-year Passenger Environment Survey (PES) for subway stations. However, it mostly rates different aspects of the station environment and in some cases uses different measures.
In addition, NYC Transit rates an entire station; this survey rates station platforms only.
In general, NYC Transit’s observations cannot be compared with the Straphangers Campaign survey findings.
Among different aspects of stations rated by NYC Transit are: litter; subway maps; functioning annunciators; escalators/elevators in operation; working public telephones; and working booth microphones.
Two measures may be roughly comparable:
– The survey’s finding that, in the summer of 2011, 100 percent of the observed platforms had a garbage can and that none of these were overflowing is similar to the relevant PES measure. For the first half of 2011, NYC Transit found 100 percent of “trash receptacles usable in stations.”
– NYC Transit PES found 27 percent of the stations had “light” “graffiti conditions” in the first half of 2011. The Straphangers Campaign survey found substantial graffiti at 20 percent of all the platforms observed in the summer of 2011.
In addition, the MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota has been quoted saying that he would like to take action against peeling paint conditions in stations.
The full survey is online at www.straphangers.org.
