According to New York City transit workers, the city’s gone to the rats. And only the Web can save it.
“Rats are proliferating in the New York City subways,” their campaign website, Rat Free Subways, declared. “Riders overwhelmingly agree—it’s getting worse.”
That’s why TWU Local 100, the union representing the city’s subway operators and bus drivers, held an online contest: Who can snap a photo of the ugliest rat in the subway?
Visitors are encouraged to “Rate-A-Rat.” The sole criteria: “How nasty is this rat?”
Alan Saly, director of publications at Local 100, told the Daily Dot the campaign’s been a success. Over 1,000 people have signed their petition for a dedicated extermination. And more than 150 people have submitted photos.
“Of course, some of those were pictures of the mayor,” he said.
The union’s main beef is with the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s habit over the past two years of raising subway costs while laying off cleaning employees.
Since the site began, Saly said, the MTA has hired back 19 cleaners.
The contest winner will be announced today, and the photographer will receive a free one-month unlimited MetroCard. The current front runner is a bloated, dead rodent with guts spilling out its backside, spotted in Brooklyn.
Next, Saly said, the union plans to host a contest for cutest subway rat. “We’ll probably let them use Photoshop,” he said. “And they’ll get two MetroCards.”
He encouraged budding photographers to only send pictures of New York City rats.
“We got pictures of rats from all over the world,” he said. “It’s nice if you send a rat from Peru, but we can’t use it in the contest.”
Photo via Rat Free Subways