MTA Subway Bathrooms Reopen For Streams Of Straphangers

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA announced increased service for numbers 1 and 2 — and they weren't talking about subway lines.

Bathrooms reopened Monday in subway stations for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, officials announced.

The unlocked — or unblocked — toilets are in 18 bathrooms across nine different subway stations. They should provide much-needed relief ffor the growing streams of straphangers who've been returning to subways, said Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit.

"When customers have got to go on the go, we’ve now got them covered at select stations," he said in a statement.

MTA crews closed the subway system's precious few bathrooms as the coronavirus struck in 2020 because of what officials said were "challenges" cleaning them.

Indeed, few straphangers were likely fond of subway restrooms that the New York Times in 2019 found largely "lived up to the horrific hype."

But, in the immortal children's book's words, everybody poops — and without working restrooms, the subways themselves risked becoming a toilet.

Subway workers spent time rehabbing the closed bathrooms before they were ready to re-go with the flow, officials said.

The bathrooms — which will be one each for men and women at the stations — have new motion-activated faucets, new fixtures and lightning, fresh paint and "deep cleaning," officials said.

They will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a one-hour break from noon to 1 p.m. for cleaning.

The locations are:

• 161th Street–Yankee Stadium — B and D lines
• 14th Street–Union Square — 4,5 and 6 lines
• East 180th Street — 2 and 5 lines
• 42 Street–Bryant Park — B, D, F and M lines
• Jay Street–MetroTech — A, C and F lines
• Kings Highway — B and Q lines
• Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue — E, F, M and R lines
• Forest Hills–71st Avenue — E, F, M and R lines
• Fulton Street — A and C lines