In October, the MTA removed trash cans from the Flushing–Main Street 7 station and the 8th Street N-R station in a counterintuitive plan to reduce garbage in the stations. Now officials say that, this summer, more subway stops will lose their trash bins. New York City Transit President Tom Prendergast tells AM New York that the plan seems to be working at the Main Street location, but that “two doesn’t give you enough for a sample … We’re going to expand it.”
There’s no word on which stations will go can-free, but unlike in the fall, this time riders won’t learn their station has been targeted for a behavioral modification experiment when they’re left holding a grimy coffee cup. “We need to explain to people what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” says Prendergast. Your station may be next if you notice the phrase “If you see something, say something” has been replaced with, “Would you throw that on the floor if this was your filthy, rat-infested house?”
