Maybe the management is not aware that there are rats and vermin in the NYCTA whether it be the subway stations, bus depots or other locations. Maybe they need the benefit of doubt.
Any reasonable person once aware of the rats would take appropriate action to minimize the number of rats through extermination as well as pest control at a full time pace. They may deploy tactics that focus on poisoning or trapping, blocking the rats access points with coordinated efforts and more frequent cleaning to remove food debris.
Definitely that reasonable person would intensify his efforts till the rats numbers declined drastically to fewer sightings. Now we can only guess what the number of calls to 511 or 311 were the reported concerns seeing rats daily in the subway? Can we rely on the accuracy from the NYCTA on the number of calls? Or can those numbers be verified.
We would recommend to the management that they should consider employing hypoallergenic cats since it is a known fact that they catch and kill rats at an average of sixteen rats a day. If those cats are employed in two twelve hour shifts then they would catch thirty two rats in a twenty four hour day. However we would be faced with another problem which is the corpses of the rats which would need to be removed.
Maybe the management are not aware that rats are fire hazards since they eat through the insulating cables - it would be a tragedy for things to be burned down due to the lack of a cat. Maybe the management does not take the rat issue seriously.
Maybe in the view of the management since they do not utilize public transportation like the average New Yorker they could careless about the rats in the subways or bus depots since their office spaces are sterilized by employing independent exterminators and pest control specialists. New Yorkers are not afforded the same while they utilize their premier mass transportation system.
Every New Yorker who has utilized the subway or the buses has seen the rats - the obvious question is why the white collar does not work in diminution of the rats numbers in the subway and the bus depots. Further action needs to be taken, the number of rats are growing. We know the subway stations and bus depots are old buildings, and we are also aware that food is strewn all over the subway station.
If the white collar have driven the MTA into the financial mess pit it is in then they definitely cannot deal with rats.
Funny thing is Lhota was the "rat" guy in the Guiliani administration.
ReplyDeleteSo this highly successful rat intitive brought on by TWU has a good chance of being able to rattle his cage.
This rat initiative has worked to TWUs advantage in many ways:
It has forged an alliance with the public
It has cleaned up some terrible conditions in some stations
It has caused the hiring of more CTAs to accomodate the extra garbage pickups the MTA had to schedule.
It has brough to light the someimes horrible conditions we Transit workers deal with every day.
It has been covered WORLDWIDE.
Go to www.ratfreesubways.com
for proof and more info.
Great job by TWU.