Commuters Demand Change As MTA Subway Stations Get More Dangerous, Disgusting, And Flooded
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Riding the subway can feel like a dangerous obstacle course, especially when it rains.
Commuters say it's become so bad recently many people couldn't even take the subway during Monday's downpour.
Water pouring from the ceiling. Floods so deep some commuters had to scale metal gates, while others were using plastic bags like potato sacks just to make their trains.
"It's always hot, it's always muggy, it always smells, it's always raining, it's always flooded, there's always something coming down the stairs," commuter Monique Maiurano detailed.
"It would be nice to come down here and not have it flooded and be able to take it but instead you can't."
Commuters wading through water and around indoor showers on the subway platforms has become the rainy day routine at some stations.
"The last couple months have been really difficult," Esther Cassidy said.
"It was kinda treacherous walking, slippery," other rider added.
It's not just water that's falling. Howard Feigenbaum says this chunk of metal fell on his car from an elevated platform at the 207th Street station just hours after the MTA announced plans to install netting under four tracks.
MORE: MTA To Install Netting Under 4 Elevated Subway Lines In Manhattan And Queens
"It could have killed somebody," Feigenbaum said.
"There are plenty of places where debris has fallen where they do not know why this continues to happen," city council member Jimmy Van Bramer said.
An 18-year-old student was nearly killed when a large metal plate fell from the ceiling at the Dekalb Avenue station Monday morning.
"When the EMTs came to check me out they said I had a gash on my head… (The doctor) said if the corner of the panel hit me there was a chance that I possibly could have died," teen Afnan Perviaz explained.
Workers inspected the area and the MTA assured customers the entire station is safe.
But what fell? The MTA says it was a drip pan – the very thing meant to stop water from flooding into the station.
The MTA told CBS2 no one was available for an on-camera interview. A spokesperson said the MTA pumps 13 million gallons of water from the subway system on a dry day.
As a result they were able to keep service disruptions during Monday's downpour to – what the MTA claims is – a minimum.