Rodent expert shines light on rats in NYC subways
Subway riders get ready to board a No. 1 train at the 72nd Street station on the Upper West Side. (Feb. 23, 2010) Credit: Craig Ruttle
A rodent expert says half of lower Manhattan’s train lines are either infested with rats or show conditions ripe for attracting them.
Robert Corrigan is a research scientist at the city health department.
The city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are working to address rat problems in the nation’s largest subway system.
Corrigan has examined all 58 subway lines that run below Canal
Street in lower Manhattan. He says 28 of them could be problematic.
Rats love the rooms where trash is stored after it’s collected in subway stations. Corrigan said hundreds of rats can be living in just one wall of one of those rooms.
It’s also a safety issue. Corrigan says jumpy riders can fall off platforms when surprised by rats.
