MTA demonstrates more than a dozen disinfecting sprayers to be used systemwide

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) demonstrated the use of 16 spray devices cleaning crews have deployed in recent months to more rapidly disinfect the transit system, including subways, buses and employee facilities.

NYCT employees and outside contractors have worked continuously to disinfect 5,400 in-service train cars and an additional 5,000 buses throughout the pandemic, cleaning more than a million cars since March and incorporating a growing range of devices and cleaning solutions that have made the process increasingly efficient, says NYCT.

"We continue to do absolutely everything in our power to clean and disinfect our rolling stock, stations and employee facilities," said Interim NYCT President Sarah Feinberg. "Our customers should continue to take the necessary safety precautions when riding the with us, but they should also know that the system has never been cleaner. No amount of praise can do justice to how hard our employees and contractors are working. They deserve the utmost respect and gratitude from all New Yorkers."

The agency says the sophistication and speed of the systemwide cleaning has improved over the course of the last nearly four months, with some train cars now cleaned and disinfected as many as seven times a day thanks to the wide range of disinfectant sprays and antimicrobial agents being used. Prior to the onset of the coronavirus, most routine cleaning was done with traditional spray bottles, but since the outbreak began, transit leadership has begun incorporating backpack sprayers, garden pump style sprays and electrostatic guns to expedite the pace of work and increase the amount of cleaning that can get done each day.

"My entire team deserves immense credit for scaling our cleaning operations to a level that matches the nature of what we're fighting against," said NYCT Chief Mechanical Officer John Santamaria. "We take this work incredibly seriously and won't relent so long as we can improve speed, reliability and effectiveness. Each time a train car gets to its terminal site, it is cleaned; and each night, it's cleaned even more thoroughly. We are experimenting with a wide range of cleaning and disinfecting agents and tools, including electrostatic devices and antimicrobials."

Members of the media were given the opportunity to use some of the electrostatic guns, spray bottles, fogger machines and backpack style sprays being used by the hundreds of cleaners working 24 hours a day to keep the system as safe as possible during the pandemic.

NYCT says the health and safety of the employees and customers continues to be the agency’s top priority.