New York Eliminates Horns on Taxis and Trash Cans in Subways
Public transportation in New York is about to get even better and demonstrably worse all at the same time. While the TLC is cutting down on cabbies honking their horns, the MTA is ditching the trash cans in subway stops. Man, this is going to get messy.
The city is putting new restrictions in place to keep cabs from using their horns unnecessarily, like honking at a traffic jam. Sorry, dude, but that's not going to speed anything up! Cab drivers now face a $350 fine if the cops or TLC officials catch them using their horns for some stupid reason. And if it bothers you while you're in the cab, you can call 311 and rat the driver out on the spot. How handy!
While we're rejoicing that our streets will be a little bit quieter, I'm dreading what's going to happen down below. In an attempt to curtail the rat population in the subways, the MTA is trying a pilot program and getting rid of trash cans in two stations to help fight the rat population. Right now it's pulled all the cans from the 8th Street station in the Village and the Main Street station in Flushing, Queens, to see if it's going to work.
New Yorkers leave a shocking 40 tons of trash per day behind in stations, but just where is that trash going to go with no trash cans? It's going to go right on the platform! Or the trash will be on the sidewalks outside the station! At best, it's going to go in the trash cans on the sidewalk, but then there will be 40 more tons of trash on the street and not enough cans to hold it all. The trash isn't going to just magically disappear.
And are they really going to try fighting the rat population in the subway? That's pretty much a losing battle. They might as well try to get Lindsay Lohan off drugs, while they're at it.
[Image via Getty]