Show Us How Nasty Your Subway Station Is

NEW YORK, NY — Mystery grime seeping down walls, puddles ankle deep, broken tiles and paint peeling like old wallpaper – New Yorkers see gross sights in subway stations every day and Patch wants to document them.

The dinginess and disrepair of New York City's aging subway stations are just part of the headache that commuting has become during the recent public transit crisis. Straphangers are familiar with the indignities at the stations they traverse on their commutes, but the grossness is surely more widespread.

That's why Patch has created an interactive map with photos of nasty sights in stations around the city. But we need your help.

If you see something dripping, peeling, broken or downright disgusting at a subway station, take a photo and email it to patchnyc@patch.com, using the subject line "Disgusting Subways," or send us a message on Facebook. Let us know when and where it was taken and we'll plot it on the map, with credit to you, and highlight new submissions each week.

To its credit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is trying to clean up the stations. MTA Chairman Joe Lhota's $836 million Subway Action Plan emphasizes station cleanliness. It includes a campaign to discourage littering and encourages the NYPD to crack down on the crime.

The MTA has also hired dozens of cleaners to help remove trash from the tracks, which cause fires that in turn cause train delays.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also proposed renovations at more that two dozen stations that include fixes to stairs, walls and platforms, as well as new floors, lighting, glass barriers and countdown clocks. The MTA Board delayed a vote on a package of those projects last month amid concerns about their cost and lack of accessibility for disabled riders.

But the subway stations have been gross for a long time. Here's a handful of nasty sights Patch's staff spotted around the city.

The 57th Street station could use a track vacuum.

The walls are falling apart at West Fourth Street.

Watch out for this grimy puddle at DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn.

This ceiling on the Upper West Side needs some love.

The J/Z platform at Chambers Street in Manhattan is especially rough.

Is your station just as bad, or worse? We want to see it. Email your gross subway photos to patchnyc@patch.com, using the subject line "Disgusting Subways," or share them with us on Facebook.

You can see more nasty subway sightings on the map below.

(Lead image: A pipe with deteriorating lining is seen at the Chambers Street J/Z station in Lower Manhattan. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)