stand clear of the bedbugs

Should the MTA Be Required to Announce Subway Bedbugs?

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

This summer’s unwelcome return of bedbug paranoia, thanks to sightings on multiple train lines, has made its way to city lawmakers from the tabloids (and blogs). City Councilman Mark Treyger and Assemblyman Bill Colton, with the support of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, are now drafting legislation that would require the MTA to notify riders within 24 hours when bedbugs turn up on public transportation, the Daily News reports. Push notifications or a posting on the MTA website would be one thing, but we can imagine the intercom alert now: “Ladies and [unintelligible static], [unintelligible garble] bedbugs [unintelligible] now making express [unintelligible].

Should the MTA Be Required to Announce Bedbugs?