THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY IS ON THE BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY

The legendary New York subway runs the risk of going bankrupt in the nearest future because of the lack of passengers. Previously, the visitors complained about garbage and filth, poor sanitation on trains and stations, and overcrowded cars. The outdated infrastructure which has been efficiently working for more than a hundred years (since 1904) was closed for disinfection on 6 May.

Now all 472 subway stations undergo regular decontamination every night. About five hundred workers of the urban public utilities clean the cars and stations. Electrostatic disinfectants, antimicrobial agents and ultraviolet radiation are used for this purpose.

Previously, the subway cars were disinfected less frequently, every 72 hours. However, after about 100 metro employees died from COVID-19, it was decided to strengthen the antiviral control. An additional reason for such measures was an increase in the number of homeless people who settled in subway.

Now the state and city authorities have another task: to bring the passengers back to the subway.

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, even went down to the subway for such a purpose. He stated that it is as sterile as possible. However, can a PR campaign of this kind convince the residents of the city to return to subway cars?

During the pandemic period, the passenger traffic decreased by 90%. Given that a half of the subway budget was formed by the funds, received for the travel tickets, such a situation puts the carrier at risk of bankruptcy.

The second half of the budget was formed by the tax revenues to the state treasury.

For the moment, the leadership of the city is trying to get financial support from the federal authorities. However, according to the American experts, the chances for this are extremely low.