Yesterday's exciting rat-in-the-subway video made us wonder: Are there more rats than ever running around in the subway, or just more people with cameras to document them? Some officials are clearly concerned; last November Senator Bill Perkins surveyed straphangers and found that 90% of respondents regularly see rats in the subway. And the Board of Health determined that half the subway lines in Lower Manhattan had mild to severe rat infestations. We asked the MTA how they're coping with what seems to be a rat raise, and spokesman Kevin Ortiz tells us:
MTA New York City Transit routinely cleans station platforms and track areas of debris that may attract rodents. We use rodent resistant trash receptacles and routinely power wash platforms. Additionally, we use both pest control contractors and in-house exterminating forces to bait track areas and non-public station areas. Periodic public service campaigns are also employed asking customers not to eat in subways or on buses but if they do, to place their garbage in the proper receptacles.
The MTA has also been tinkering with a "roach motel-like trap" with nothing to eat inside but poison. Which makes us feel kind of sorry for the rats, even though they freak us out. In 2008, there were reports of rats swarming subway platforms, and now it seems they're making a play for the subway trains themselves. Next stop: the buses! Only cracks in the sidewalk can save us now.
