Minimum Of 21 Bedbug Subway Sightings
The bedbug problem on the NYC Subway does not seem to be going away anytime soon if August is any indication. As I wrote about last week, a Brooklyn-bound N train was taken out of service after a conductor was bit by one while on duty.
Days later we got a report that the agency had at least 21 reported sightings in August. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more:
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been very reluctant to talk about bedbugs in the transit system. It’s a story they wish would just go away.
So we’ll rely on undercover transit sources to bring you the first-ever BugStat.
There were at least 21 reported bedbug sightings or encounters in the subway in August — including a few incidents in which a bloodsucker bit a conductor or a rider, sources said.
According to these transit insiders, there were nine sightings on N trains, three on Q trains and two on No. 6 trains.
The itch-inducing insects also were spotted once each on Nos. 3, 4, 5 and L trains, the sources said.
In addition to riding the rails, bedbugs were found in transit worker crew rooms and subway offices in Astoria, Queens, and Coney Island, Brooklyn (N and Q lines), and Euclid Ave., East New York, also in Brooklyn (A line).
Click here for the complete report.
Like I mentioned last week, I am surprised this had not become a big issue in the past considering how NYC has a problem with them. The MTA has downplayed the issue which is to be expected from their PR aspect. However they clearly are taking the issue seriously when you look at the internal reactions to the sightings.
I do feel the agency should keep an official list of sightings & make it available to the riding public. It is a shame they seem more concerned about their image versus getting the word out. Thankfully some insiders are doing the right thing & letting people know.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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