New York MTA to Possibly Reopen Public Transport Washrooms

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

In New York, New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) wants to potentially reopen many of the bathrooms at the various subway stations across the city. However, transit folks and experts are unsure if this is a good idea.

Since the start of the pandemic, the MTA has closed all of its active public bathrooms. According to a digital platform called THE CITY, this closure represents a whopping 76 stations that represent 16% of the overall system. They mainly did this because of the ongoing pandemic.

You see, once the MTA unlocks the public restrooms, it is unclear how long they will remain safe and clean. Plus, we have to take into account the pandemic guidelines.

The New York City Transit interim president is Sarah Feinberg. According to her:

“We’re having an internal conversation at the moment about the best way to go about reopening those restrooms and how we should open them or how they should be used going forward.”

This conversation specifically happened at the MTA during their board meeting on June 23. While they are unsure of when to open it or how exactly they should open it, they would like them open soon.

Just a few months ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio pressed the MTA to restore 24/7 subway service in time for a proposed July 1 reopening. Last year, his administration did place portable restrooms and hand-washing stations in 12 locations, but they were reportedly taken out of service due to vandalism issues.

As the MTA has mentioned in more recent times:

“We would like to open the restrooms as quickly as possible.”

Sarah Feinberg oversees the buses and subways and in the city. It seems that the priority is to focus on issues that have occurred prior to the pandemic, including (but not limited to):

• Drug use
• Vandalism
• Homeless people setting up home inside the rooms
• Hygiene

From the sounds of it, they worry about putting a key in those bathrooms:

“I don’t want to put a lock on the door, I don’t want to require someone to have to get a key, I don’t want to go through these other machinations that other agencies do and that other businesses do."

By the same token, it sounds like they want to be compassionate and open-minded to those who are lower-income or homeless.

“But we also want to make sure that if we’re providing access to restrooms that it’s really in a safe way.”

For the homeless, the closed bathrooms have presented many problems since very few of them have any other public places to go to where they can properly clean up. Before the pandemic, they could also rely on public restrooms, such as those in:

• Restaurants
• Libraries
• Non-profit organizations
• Soup kitchens

However, those places are closed too, and the subway washrooms may be the closest place where some homeless people can go to. Meanwhile, some outreach teams from the Department of Social Service have been dispatched to send out basic hygiene supplies (like cleaning wipes) across 7800 referrals since 2020.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

According to Jacquelyn Simone, the senior policy analyst at Coalition for the Homeless, the situation with the homeless has been pretty bad:

“During the pandemic, homeless New Yorkers encountered a dire shortage of restroom facilities where they could fulfill basic human functions.”

Furthermore, people have noticed that more train cars have unwanted fluids, causing the MTA to pull cars out of service just to really scrub them down. Some may argue it came from the homeless, and others may blame it on passengers who haven't had adequate mental health care.

Despite this, the MTA reports that ridership is at an all-time high.

Sarah had reportedly said:

“We don’t necessarily see a correlation between soiled elevators and soiled train cars and restrooms being open. I think, in many cases, what we’re dealing with here, is not someone who [when] the restroom upstairs or in a very different part of the station isn’t open, ‘Therefore I have no choice but to go here.’ What we found is it tends to be a mental illness issue.”

Perhaps the situation with the subway cars is not correlated to the homeless. Even so, more mental health services are needed in the transit system.

Either way, opening up the station bathroom would help other New Yorkers too, such as those with:

• Weak bladders
• Medications (such as those with diabetes)
• Wheelchairs (or other accessibility accommodations)
• Fatigue (especially after a long bike ride)

Plus, it may be a great idea to have robust and well-paid security or bathroom attendants to ensure that the cleanliness problems are enforced. A few unruly passengers shouldn't ruin it for the rest of New York.

As Jacquelyn mentioned:

"Just ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away."

As for those in New York, New York, including commuters, locals, pedestrians, tourists, and/or bicyclists, perhaps reopening the public bathrooms are in order. If not, you can let us know in the comments below.

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