'People Are Not Civil Anymore:' Rail Riders Irate Over Trash Aboard LIRR, Metro-North Trains
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There's a new effort underway to get rid of train trash after increasing rider complaints about sharing space with food tossed on seats and floors during their daily commute.
Either leaks from the ceiling or spills on the floor, countless commuter posts on social media show cleanliness is hard to come by on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
Pedro Santos from Danbury, Connecticut says he's run into paper, cans, bottles, and pizza boxes. Mike Daluz has spotted a McDonald's bag with half of a Big Mac inside.
It didn't take long for CBS2's Lisa Rozner to find a banana peel and tissues padding the seats on one Metro North train on Tuesday.
"You sit down, you will get it all over yourself," LIRR rider Daisy Alvarado said.
LIRR and Metro-North each serve around 300,000 customers a day, with some paying hundreds of dollars for a monthly pass.
"You don't get the service you should be getting for a premium," Deer Park commuter Andrew Georgakopoulos said.
Experts point to research which shows that proximity to trash cans and recycling bins point to the fact that people would be less likely to litter. Once you get on the train, however, you won't find any receptacles.
"There's not a lot of space to put a receptacle in a car but we're actually trying to see if there's a way we can design an area where it can safely have folks take the trash," LIRR President Philip Eng said.
Eng adds in the last month, they've added some 50 car cleaners and installed wet wipes on select train cars.
Last year, CBS2 demanded answers on dirt encrusted seats on some of the older Metro-North New Haven line trains. Governor Cuomo called the situation "disgusting."
The following day, the chairs were so clean they gleaned.
The LIRR and Metro-North say if you see trash on your train, you can tweet them with the train line and number. You should also tell the conductor who is supposed to alert a cleaning crew immediately.
