MTA reopens public bathrooms at 9 subway stations
Image via WikiCommons
At last, straphangers can experience some relief. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reopened 18 bathrooms in nine New York City subway stations to the public on Monday. The bathrooms are open at select stations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with a one-hour closure from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. for cleaning. The NYC subway system’s 133 public restrooms have been closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic.
Public bathrooms have reopened at the following stations:
- 161st Street-Yankee Stadium
- 14th Street-Union Square
- East 180th Street
- 42nd Street-Bryant Park
- Jay Street-MetroTech
- Kings Highway
- Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue
- Forest Hills-71st Avenue
- Fulton Street
Since their closure, the MTAÂ said it performed much-needed maintenance on the restrooms, including the installation of new motion-activated faucets, privacy panels, hours of operation signage, lighting, paint, grouting, and appliances like hand dryers and towel dispensers.
“The pandemic created many challenges to providing faster, cleaner, safer service in the transit system,” NYC Transit President Richard Davey said.
“But as ridership continues to rebound, we’re pleased to provide relief to customers by reopening some bathrooms across the transit system. When customers have got to go on the go, we’ve now got them covered at select stations.”
In October 2022, the MTA announced that they would begin reopening subway bathrooms at five different stations starting in early 2023. The transit agency hired 800 new cleaners to tackle the restoration of bathrooms. Some of the bathrooms required immediate repairs which delayed their openings.
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