#MTA ‘experimenting’ with air filters on trains as part of reopening plan

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Essential workers inside an MTA subway in NYC.
Taidgh Barron/NY Post

The MTA will test “real-time” air filtration on trains when the city begins to reopen next week, as part of a 13-point plan “for a safe return” to the city’s subways, The Post has learned.

Officials are “experimenting” with technology that “assists in filtering in the air in real-time,” an MTA official with knowledge of the effort said.

“It complements the disinfecting and cleaning that is happening multiple times a day in every car, and the requirement that everybody wears a mask,” the source added.

Transit officials announced plans to return to regular, pre-pandemic service earlier this week with the start of New York City’s Phase 1 reopening next Monday.

Subway service, which was limited during the height of the coronavirus crisis, has increased slowly over the course of this week and will be at 95 percent pre-pandemic levels by the time the city reopens on Monday, Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg told 1010 WINS on Friday morning.

Full, pre-pandemic service levels will be in effect by Tuesday, she said.

In anticipation of increased ridership next week, the MTA has begun rolling out hand sanitizer dispensers on platforms and installing floor marking and decals to assist with social distancing.

But Feinberg and other MTA officials have rejected Mayor Bill de Blasio’s demand that they block off seats and limit the number of people on trains and in stations.