MTA Buses Cleared After Bed Bug Fears

NEW YORK — No need to bring bug spray on the bus. Six New York City buses were cleared for service Tuesday after fears that they had been breached by bed bugs, the MTA said.

The buses were "quarantined" at the Kingsbridge Bus Depot in Inwood following reports from employees in the last several days that the pesky parasites may have gotten on board, MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said.

An MTA vendor specializing in bed bugs confirmed Tuesday that the buses were safe and free of the blood-sucking insects, Tarek said in an email.

ABC7, which first reported the worries on Monday, captured images of a bus parked in the yard with the words "BED BUGS" written across the windshield.

One union rep expressed concern to the station that the MTA no longer regularly fumigates buses. "This practice seems to have ceased for whatever reasons," shop steward Michael Enriquez told ABC7.

Tarek said the MTA doesn't use fumigation "as a preventative measure."

"As a precautionary measure to keep our employees and customers safe, when a bus is suspected of having bedbugs we immediately quarantine it for inspection, and treatment is done if necessary," he said.

(Lead image: Photo by Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)