The MTA's top honcho on Wednesday said he couldn't figure out how to clean the city's subway system without leaving it closed to passengers from 1 to 5 a.m. each night.
The overnight closures have been in place since May 6, and City Council members griped during an oversight hearing that it's high time for the system to reopen for early morning riders.
But Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman Pat Foye defended the shutdown, which was ordered by Gov. Cuomo as a way to disinfect trains and remove homeless riders during the pandemic.
Foye cited federal health guidelines that recommend transit agencies regularly disinfect surfaces within mass transit to stave the spread of COVID-19. "The only way to accomplish that is during the 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. closure," he said.
© Provided by New York Daily NewsMTA Chairman Patrick Foye inspects the Coney Island - Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn, New York.
MTA Chairman Patrick Foye inspects the Coney Island - Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn, New York. (Gardiner Anderson/)
MTA crews and contractors have since April cleaned subway cars 24 hours a day at end-of-line terminal stations, and some cleaners continue to scrub trains during the shutdown hours.
The cleaners aren't given any extra time to disinfect trains during the closures. The subway runs on the same schedule from 1 to 5 a.m. as before the pandemic, with trains departing terminals at the same regular intervals.
Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) called the ongoing shutdown "hygiene theater."
"You're not tracking any data," said Lander. "You're just going to wait until the governor says the emergency is over, and you don't plan to run the subways overnight despite the issues of [24-hour] vaccine distribution."
© David BoeA sign on stairs to the 25th Avenue stop on the D subway line indicates that the subway system is closed overnight for cleaning during the pandemic in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
A sign on stairs to the 25th Avenue stop on the D subway line indicates that the subway system is closed overnight for cleaning during the pandemic in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (David Boe/)
Foye repeatedly said the decision to keep the system closed overnight was "driven by CDC guidance," which does not recommend closing transit systems to clean them.
And even though subway cars are still cleaned during the hours when the system remains open to passengers, Foye said the overnight cleaning crews are far more efficient.
"A crowded or half-crowded subway car, or crowded or half-crowded subway platform can't be disinfected in the period it can be if customers aren't there," Foye said.
But Foye was still unclear as to why the cleaning done by daytime crews is insufficient - or the degree to which 1 to 5 a.m. straphangers who account for roughly 4% of transit riders would impede disinfection efforts.
The MTA's focus on disinfecting train surfaces has drawn recent scrutiny from some scientists, including Rutgers University microbiologist Emanuel Goldman, who last month told Nature Research that officials should be more concerned about the airborne spread of the virus.
© Provided by New York Daily NewsA contractor cleans a subway car at the 96th Street station to control the spread of COVID-19, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in New York.
A contractor cleans a subway car at the 96th Street station to control the spread of COVID-19, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in New York. (John Minchillo/)
MTA honchos have made some slight improvements to the ventilation systems on subway cars, including changing out air filters more regularly and testing out modern anti-microbial technology on a handful of subway trains.
But Foye said the MTA's ramped-up surface cleaning will likely continue for years to come - and that it's up to Cuomo to decide when the subway reopens overnight.
"This decision is driven by FTA guidance and CDC guidance," said Foye. "This is being done to make the cleaning more efficient."