Subway Workers Scared To Clean MTA Toilets, CEO Says

NEW YORK CITY — Big Apple MTA workers are too frightened of public subway toilets to give them the thorough cleaning they need, according to CEO Janno Lieber.

The problem has gotten so bad that the New York City Transit president has been tasked with finding protection for the cleaners who brave the MTA's subway bathrooms, Lieber said during an interview Sunday with CBS-2.

"Cleaners are a little scared to go into those bathrooms," Lieber said. "You encounter crime or drug use or something — it's a little scary."

Staffing issues linked to COVID-19 have also exacerbated the problem of the dirty subway toilet as the MTA is still scrambling to hire enough cleaners, Lieber said.

"We don't have enough people to clean the stations, let alone the bathrooms," Lieber said. "So, what we're doing, Rich Davey who runs New York City Transit is developing a plan both to hire cleaners but also figure out how to protect the workers when they go into a bathroom."

The issue was raised by a Bronx man named Prince who said he needs to frequent the bathroom every five to ten minutes but can seldom find one in a city subway.

"A big problem that I'm facing here, I always want to use the bathroom," Prince said. "But there's no bathrooms, nothing around. And then you try to sneak and you get arrested and get a ticket."

Lieber skated around the issue of adding more subway bathrooms by pointing out the MTA doesn't have enough staff to clean the ones it does provide.

But exactly how many subway bathrooms exist is a more complicated question than it would seem.

While Lieber put the number between 50 and 60, a determined YouTuber named Eron Watt counted 129 New York City stations that claim to have bathrooms.

Watt's station-by-station survey in 2014 found another number more in accordance with Lieber's: only 49 were unlocked.

The MTA chairman and CEO did not provide details about how the MTA would protect subway bathroom cleaners but told Prince he wouldn't need to do the waiting dance much longer.

"We're trying to figure that out right now," Lieber said. "We're going to get to it, Prince."