Photo by Miriam Quiñones
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced on March 8 that 24 bathrooms at 12 subway stations across the City will reopen to the public May 2. The 12 stations with reopened bathrooms are the second group in NYC Transit’s phased reopening of subway bathrooms since they were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bathrooms, one male and one female at 12 stations, will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a one-hour closure for cleaning from noon to 1 p.m.
“Following a successful launch, we felt comfortable moving forward with the next group of stations,” said NYC Transit President Richard Davey. “This phased approach has allowed us to develop a plan that ensures bathrooms stay clean for customers who need them. The Stations Department has done a great job in keeping bathrooms and stations cleaner as we strive to deliver faster, cleaner and safer service.”
NYC Transit began to reopen bathrooms on January 9 at nine stations. As part of the reopening, the agency tracked bathroom usage as well as cleanliness and safety concerns. NYC Transit implemented a “flush counter” that found the men’s bathrooms had three times as many flushes as the women’s bathrooms with over 27,000 flushes compared to 8,400 flushes.
Overall, the bathrooms have been used over 35,000 times since they were reopened in January, and of the thousands of recorded uses, there have been no significant safety issues or cleanliness complaints from customers or employees. Since the reopening, none of the bathrooms have had to close for maintenance repairs.
Prior to the first phase of reopening, the MTA took advantage of the closures of bathrooms to perform needed maintenance to these facilities, including:
- new motion activated faucets
- new fixtures (hand dryers, dispensers)
- new/painted privacy panels
- new lighting
- tile grouting
- new door signs reflecting hours of operation
- ceiling painting
- deep cleaning
Bathrooms will reopen at the following stations May 2:
- Norwood – 205 St
- Woodlawn
- 168 St
- 72 St
- Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall
- 57 St – 7 Av
- Atlantic Av – Barclays Center
- 36 St
- Coney Island – Stillwell Av
- Euclid Av
- Flushing – Main St
- Queensboro Plaza
Following the second phase, over 30 percent of bathrooms in the subway system will be reopened.
The bathrooms reopened during the first phase in January included the following:
- 161 St–Yankee Stadium
- 14 St–Union Sq
- East 180 St
- 42 St–Bryant Park
- Jay St–MetroTech
- Kings Highway
- Jackson Hts–Roosevelt Av
- Forest Hills–71 Av
- Fulton St
Click here for the subway bathrooms reopening map. Click here to read our recent story on subway station upgrades, including elevator installation.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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