MTA to use UV lamps to sanitize subways and buses
NEW YORK - The MTA on Tuesday demonstrated a device that could become an important tool to disinfect the transit system.
MTA Chairman Pat Foye announced a pilot program to use ultraviolet lamps to clean subway trains, buses, and possibly even stations. The agency will start disinfecting next week and the second phase will expand to the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad.
"For nearly three months, the MTA has worked relentlessly to disinfect our entire fleet of subways and buses but we've always promised that we would explore any and all new approaches available to us as well," Foye said. "The launch of this UVC pilot represents a promising next step in our ongoing efforts to identify technologies that can keep our customers and employees as safe as possible."
The MTA demonstrates UV disinfecting technology inside a subway car at the Corona Maintenance Facility in Queens, N.Y., May 19, 2020. (MTA NYC Transit)
This is the same sanitizing technology used in many hospitals. In tests performed by Dr. David Brenner at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the tech also kills the coronavirus. He said the results have been very encouraging.
The MTA is testing 230 of the lamps, made by the company PURO Lighting, for a cost of $1 million. Crews will use the lamps during the overnight cleanings that started a few weeks ago.
"The MTA is going to be better. They are cleaner. We stopped running trains at night for several hours. That allowed us to disinfect the trains," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "The trains are cleaner. I believe the MTA will be better, service will be better. When we are ready to open the MTA will be ready to open."
The MTA demonstrates UV disinfecting technology inside a subway car at the Corona Maintenance Facility in Queens, N.Y., May 19, 2020. (MTA NYC Transit)