Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll look at a study that said air quality in subway stations is poor. And, with the migrant crisis easing, we’ll look at what President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to deport undocumented immigrants might mean for the city.
The routine is familiar: There is a blast of air as a subway train rolls into a station, a whoosh as the train forces air through the tunnel. Then there is a tailwind as the trail pulls away.
A study from New York University found that the air on subway platforms is potentially unhealthy because it contains tiny, almost invisible particles of iron, an inevitable result of the friction between brakes, train wheels and subway tracks.
The study noted that cities like New York have promoted mass transit “to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.” But, it said, “the air quality inside the subway system is poor.”
Dr. Shams Azad, the lead researcher on the study, told me that the concentrations in some stations were 15 times above World Health Organization guidelines. He said the average concentration in stations was 150 to 200 units, while the W.H.O. limit was 15.
He said the “most polluted” stations were at 168th Street and 181st Street on the No. 1 line, with levels between 550 and 600 units. The West Side Rag website noted when it reported on the study last week that concentrations in the 72nd Street station were also high. On a list of the “top 20 polluted stations” with the study, 72nd Street — a stop for No. 2 and No. 3 express trains as well as for the No. 1 — ranked 20th, and an interactive map prepared with the study showed that the level there was 233 units.
Azad blamed poor ventilation in the 168th Street and 181st Street stations for those high readings. Both are deep underground. The High Street station on the A and C lines in Brooklyn registered 360 units, while Borough Hall on the No. 2 and No. 3 lines in Brooklyn had a reading of 311 units. In Manhattan, the level in the Fulton Street station on the J and Z lines was 290 units, while the level in the Bowling Green station on the No. 4 and No. 5 lines was 284 units.
For the study, the researchers simulated home-to-work trip patterns of three million commuters at all but 43 of the city’s 472 subway stations. They measured particle concentrations by taking round trips on each line.
On the way out, using a hand-held measuring device, they took readings of the air in the subway car they were in. On the return trip, they got off at each station and measured the air until the next train arrived, so they spent five to 15 minutes on each platform. They factored in time spent waiting on the platform and transfers.
The study found that the bad air disproportionately affects lower-income working riders, especially Hispanic and Black passengers, whose commutes are often longer and require more transfers between trains.
Azad said that the long-term health effects of particles measured in the study is unknown, “but what we see from other studies is particles are bad for health.” The study, published in August in the peer-reviewed journal Plos One, said that particles “can remain suspended in the air for long periods, and when inhaled, they can easily enter the bloodstream.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways, took issue with what it called “this recycled study based on years-old data.” Azad, who is now a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University’s climate school, said the measurements for the study were taken in 2021 and 2022.
A spokeswoman for the agency also said that the subway system is cleaned frequently by vacuum trains and mobile wash units that power-wash the platforms. She noted that 40 percent of the stations are outdoors, and the study showed that those had significantly lower readings. Several stations on the F line in Brooklyn had readings just below 20 units; on other lines, many stations with open platforms registered 29 units.
The spokeswoman took issue with the survey’s methodology, because the W.H.O. measurements covered a 24-hour period, while those in the study were far shorter. She also said that the pollution that figured in the W.H.O. measurements was caused by fossil fuels, which she said was not the case with the subway.
“Every serious person knows transit is the antidote to fossil fuel, the one reason New York City is the greenest city around,” the agency said in a statement, adding that mass transit was “an engine of equity for people of all communities.”
Weather
Expect rain, mainly before 1 p.m., a high near 59 degrees and a gentle breeze in the afternoon. Tonight, expect a mostly clear sky with a light breeze and low in the mid 30s.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day).
The latest New York news
Ex-Shen Yun dancer sues: Chang Chun-Ko filed a lawsuit accusing the music and dance group’s leader of trafficking vulnerable children to work for little to no pay.
Soaring hotel rates: The average price of a hotel room in New York City in September climbed to $417, the highest monthly rate ever recorded in the city. Many travelers are experiencing sticker shock, especially as the peak holiday tourism season begins.
Selling the Gilgo Beach house: The home of an accused Long Island serial killer, a dilapidated red ranch in Massapequa Park, will go on the market in approximately six months.
The migrant crisis is easing, but Trump’s deportation threat looms
If the past two years were defined by how Mayor Eric Adams managed to accommodate more than 223,000 new migrants, the next four years, my colleague Luis Ferré-Sadurní writes, could be remembered for how the city navigates President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.
New York is a so-called sanctuary city with laws that limit its cooperation with federal officials to deport noncitizens. Most recent migrants have applied for asylum and are already in so-called removal proceedings to determine whether they can remain in the country. That means they cannot be immediately deported while their cases are winding through the courts, according to immigration lawyers.
But fears of mass deportations — and possible family separations — have spread among the city’s estimated 412,000 undocumented immigrants. Many have been here for years and have children or spouses who are U.S. citizens or have legal status.
The city’s sanctuary policies also sharply limit the extent to which the Police Department can cooperate with federal officials to deport people. But the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency can detain people and make arrests in the city.
The mayor has said that he opposes mass deportations. But Adams, a former police captain, says the city should be able to help the federal government detain noncitizens accused of crimes, a change that the City Council would have to go along with.
All this comes as fewer migrants are arriving in New York City. About 500 were admitted into the shelter system in the second week of November, a sharp drop from the 4,700 that arrived in a single week in summer 2023. And more than 150,000 of the 223,000 migrants the city has housed since early 2022 have left the shelter system. It is unclear how many remain in the city.
The city’s strategy for reducing the shelter population has also had an effect. It has spent more than $13 million on bus and plane tickets for more than 47,000 migrants who wanted to leave New York. The top destinations included Texas, Florida, Illinois and Colorado.
METROPOLITAN diary
Late Night Ride
Dear Diary:
I was 26 and back in the city after having left for college several years earlier. I was staying with my parents in Peter Cooper Village while looking for a place of my own.
One night, I was coming home from a bar in the East 30s at about 2 a.m. It was cold out, and I was in heels. My feet were killing me.
I heard a voice calling out, asking whether I wanted a ride. It was a sanitation truck driver. He was idling while his co-worker picked up some trash.
I hesitated briefly before jumping in. A minute later, the co-worker, surprised to find me there, jumped in as well.
The driver and I chatted as the truck made its stops down Second Avenue. He told me about dropping out of college to take the sanitation job, and I told him how happy I was to be back in my hometown.
When the truck stopped at 20th Street, I hopped out and said goodbye. A few weeks later, I found an apartment in Brooklyn.
— Kinsey Dinan
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
Makaelah Walters and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
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The post The Air in Subway Stations Is Bad for You, Study Finds appeared first on New York Times.
