The only No. 2 allowed on the MTA is the train line.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board is slated to formally ban defecating on its subways, buses and transit facilities during its meeting on Wednesday.
The dirty deed is already barred under current rules, which subject any rider to a $100 fine for “create[ing] a nuisance, hazard, or unsanitary condition (including, but not limited to, spitting or urinating).” But the rule change will specifically add “defecating” to the list of bodily expulsions.
Complaints of “soiled” subway trains surged in 2019, according to MTA data. The agency had insisted at the time that the increase in reports of disgusting subway cars was the result of more vigilant riders — not worsening conditions.
Yet transit workers have long complained of nasty conditions on trains. The workers’ union, Transport Workers Union Local 100, launched a “Trash Train” photo contest last October to highlight the filth and protest cuts to cleaning crews.
“MTA rules are periodically tweaked to enhance clarity, and that’s the case with the addition of more descriptive language,” MTA spokesman Tim Minton said in a statement.
“Ensuring the transportation system provides an appropriate quality of life experience for our workforce and customers is a guiding principle and top priority.”
The poop ban was first included in a host of new, temporary emergency rules issued back in April in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The board will vote on making the rules permanent on Wednesday.
Those rules also include policies targeting homeless people who live in the system. The rules require riders to exit subway cars at the end of the line, ban people from lingering in subway stations for more than an hour and bar riders from bringing large shopping carts on trains.
