NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – The transit system in New York City region has the most polluted air of any transit system in the northeastern U.S., according to a new study.
Researchers looked at the air quality in 71 underground subway stations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., taking more than 300 air samples during the morning and evening rush hours before the pandemic. Their findings were published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Thirteen stations in New York were sampled as part of the study. Researchers found that concentrations of hazardous materials and organic particles at the stations were two to seven times more than outdoor samples.
The worst offender was the underground Christopher Street PATH station, where levels of potentially dangerous particles reached up to 77 times the typical concentration found in the air above ground, researchers said.
"This figure is comparable to sooty contamination from forest fires and building demolition," according to a press release from NYU Langone Health.
Researchers also called out the Second Avenue station on the F line in Manhattan as one of the most polluted stations.
Overall, the PATH system had the highest airborne particle concentration of the systems surveyed at 392 micrograms per cubic meter. The MTA system was next at 251 micrograms per cubic meter. That's compared to an average of just 16 micrograms per cubic meter for all measured cities, researchers said.
Researchers noted that the Environmental Protection Agency advises that concentrations above 35 micrograms per cubic meter pose serious health hazards.
"New Yorkers in particular should be concerned about the toxins they are inhaling as they wait for trains to arrive," said co-senior study author Terry Gordon, PhD, a professor at NYU Langone Health.
Air quality at the 58 other stations in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington never reached "the severe levels of contamination seen in New York's worst transit lines," but still showed higher levels of airborne particle concentrations, according to researchers.
"Our findings add to evidence that subways expose millions of commuters and transit employees to air pollutants at levels known to pose serious health risks over time," said the study's lead author, David Luglio of NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
Researchers cautioned that they didn't measure riders' short-term exposure to airborne particles, such as dashing to catch a train. And they said it's unclear if the major dip in ridership caused by the pandemic has impacted air quality in the systems.
