I’m not going out on a limb saying that most CTA subway stations are nothing to write home about. They’re relatively cramped tunnels whose cream-colored walls are often streaked with grime and worn, brown platforms are caked with dirt. Corners reek of garbage or worse.
Dirt and grime is all over the place at the Washington station, which with 3.8 million rides in 2016 was the busiest stop on the line other than O’Hare Airport. The grit’s embedded in the floors and the blue edging on the platforms. It runs up and down support columns, covering lights, and even on and around recycling containers encouraging passersby to “keep the CTA clean.” At the Red Line’s Jackson stop on a recent visit, the platform is in better shape, but the tracks are littered with airplane liquor bottles, banana peels, a fingerless glove with a shamrock on it, and pizza wedges. (There’s no sign of Chicago’s answer to the New York Metro’s viral video star, Pizza Rat.)
When I first ask about how often the stations are more thoroughly scrubbed spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski tells me the busiest stations are “deep cleaned” every two weeks. She says the less busy stations are done every five to six weeks.
But when I push for evidence of the deep cleanings, she admits they are done far less frequently. The eight downtown stations in the Blue Line were cleaned a total of 50 times last year. The Washington station is deep-cleaned just three times—far less than every two weeks.
“It’s dirty. It’s bad,” acknowledges the CTA worker. “But everybody says it’s cleaner than New York.” v
