Win $500 For Photos Of Trash-Filled NYC Subway Trains

NEW YORK — New York City's public transit labor union is offering straphangers a chance to turn piles of trash into piles of cash.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 has launched a contest to find the city's grossest subway train in a bid to draw attention to the MTA's cleaning cutbacks. The group will give $500 to the rider who submits the photo of the "filthiest subway car" by the time its "Trash Train" contest ends Nov. 30.

"Trash-filled subway cars are coming back because the MTA has cut Cleaner jobs," the union wrote on its contest website. "If you encounter a filthy subway car, it’s because the MTA doesn’t have the staff to clean it — because they decided to spend their budget $$ on something else — like million dollar consultants."

Nearly three dozen images of garbage heaps, soiled seats, human excrement and other foul sights had appeared in the contest gallery by early Monday afternoon.

The stomach-churning competition comes amid a reported spike in the number of soiled subway cars while the workforce responsible for cleaning them has shrunk.

The MTA slashed 66 jobs last year for workers who clean cars once they reach the end of a line, THE CITY reported in September. The transit agency is planning future cuts even though it logged more than 1,600 reports of soiled cars in the first eight months of 2019, up from just 1,504 in all of 2017, the news website reported.

"We run a world-class operation — and New York’s transit system is second to none," the transit union says. "The MTA shouldn’t skimp on hiring the staff they need to deliver clean cars to our 6.5 million daily riders."

Any straphanger older than 18 can submit a "Trash Train" photo through TWU Local 100's contest website. The winner will be selected through a public online vote.