The New York City Transport Workers Union launched a competition this week to find the most disgusting subway photo.The union said it started the competition to raise awareness about subways budget cuts that have led to a shortage of cleaners.New York’s subway system has been in a state of emergency for two years, struggling on numerous fronts.The photos submitted so far are vile. Some show general dirtiness and mounds of trash, while others zoom in on feces, blood, and other bodily fluids.The competition lasts until November 30, and the winner will be awarded $500 (and probably scarred for life by what they’ve seen).Anyone who’s taken a ride on New York City’s subway system knows it’s not exactly clean, or sanitary, or pleasant. But a new competition is asking riders to upload images showing just how bad the situation has gotten.To raise awareness about the rotting transit system, New York’s Transport Workers Union is offering $500 to the person who can submit the nastiest, vilest photo in its “Trash Train” contest, launched this week.The images so far are nothing short of soul-crushing. Warning: They’re not safe for work (or life).
Welcome back.While those images are provocative, the union thinks they also serve a purpose.In an interview with Pix11, Nelson Rivera, the union chapter’s administrative vice president, said the union was trying to raise awareness about Metropolitan Transportation Authority budget cuts that have led to a shortage of subway-car cleaners.The union said that three or four years ago, the New York subway system had 490 subway cleaners, but that has since shrunk to 386. Rivera said that he and others in the union had been trying to bring the issue to the MTA’s attention — and now with these images, the union hopes the public can shock authorities into action.”If the MTA’s not listening to the union, at least listen to the riding public,” Rivera told Pix11.New York’s subway system has struggled with crowded trains, consistent delays, nearly 90-year-old signals, and mismanagement. It has been in an official state of emergency for over two years, since a train derailed in June 2017 and injured 34 people.The many problems facing the system responsible for transporting nearly 9 million New Yorkers are complex, but the grimy, unsanitary conditions seen on a regular basis are, if anything, a physical representation of a system in disorder.Anyone over the age of 18 — including MTA employees — is eligible for the $500 prize. While there are no restrictions on submitting photos of blood, feces, or other bodily fluids, the competition website says it won’t accept photos with MTA employees, passenger’s faces, or homeless people, or “obviously staged events.”The Trash Train contest runs until November 30, so there’s still plenty of time for even more stomach-churning photos to emerge.Read more:New York City has caught an alleged subway bandit who delayed more than 700 trains by pulling the emergency brakeNew York’s governor declares MTA ‘state of emergency’ as transit failures pile upNew York’s MTA is launching a first-of-its-kind tech accelerator to help fix its crumbling subway and slow busesNew York subway vigilantes have begun posting official-looking signs that tell riders not to ‘snitch’ on fare evaders
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