The Straphangers Campaign released their first State of the Station Platforms survey finding on Thursday. The survey was conducted from July 11–Sept. 24, 2011 on 120 platforms throughout the city, which is 28 percent of the city’s 909 systemwide platforms.
The observations were broken down into “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” Garbage was given a “good” rating with 100 percent of stations reporting garbage cans on the platform and only one overflowing.
Floor cracks, exposed wiring, graffiti, missing tile, and rats all ranked as “bad” with 11–33 percent of stations having significant problems.
Peeling paint, water damage, and broken light fixtures all made the “ugly” list with at least half of the stations surveyed having significant issues.
Unlike the biannual MTA Passenger Environment Survey, the Straphangers survey focused only on platforms, not the entire station. They also focused more on aesthetics and cleanliness; staying away from procedural components such as map placement and employees wearing badges.
The MTA issued a statement in response to the report saying, “We have deployed more personnel and resources to remove trash from stations in a timely manner while we continue the station component program, which targets specific repairs and improvements at more stations throughout the system.”
The Straphangers Campaign will use the results of this year’s survey as a baseline, so they can see if improvements were made.
