Nearly a year after The Post reported junkies turned the 181st Street No. 1 train station into a shooting gallery, the transit hub’s conditions have spiraled further, with half-naked addicts roaming the human feces-covered platforms.
The Post observed this week a familiar scene of hundreds of needles and orange caps tossed by addicts onto the tracks at the Washington Heights station, while a man without pants covered in track marks stumbled along the uptown platform littered with sharps.
At opposite ends of the platform sat mounds of human feces.
Exhausted passengers, many with children in tow, rushed past the needles while holding their noses to block the wretched stink.
“If you were … down by Manhattan where rich New Yorkers live at, then they’d give a f–k, but we’re in a minority area,” NYCHA janitor Candido Betances told The Post, referring to the MTA and city officials.
“You’ve got to keep an eye on the guy in the corner waking up or screaming,” the 23-year-old added. “You’ve got to be aware, you can’t relax.”
The transit hub’s descent into a drug den “exploded” during the pandemic, coinciding with an overdose prevention center opening just three blocks away in November 2021, an MTA worker and straphangers told The Post.
“This station has become a crack den,” straphanger Jesus Ayala raged on X, posting a photo Monday of an encampment with five zonked-out vagrants on the subway platform.
“We shouldn’t be subjected to this.”
Narcotics arrests in Transit District 3, which covers the 181st Street station, have jumped 136% so far this year, up to 78 through March 31 compared to 33 during the same period in 2023, according to the NYPD.
Overall crime in the transit district has dropped to 35 incidents as of March 31 versus 50 during the same period in 2023.
Still, straphangers pleaded for more police presence on the subway platform to deter lawless drug activity.
“Sometimes you see people using on the platform … and there isn’t a consistent police presence,” said second-grade teacher Stephanie Jacobo.
“If the city is going to make an attempt to clean up the subway, it’s got to be consistent.”
An NYPD spokesperson said officers were addressing local complaints about the 181st Street Station, noting officers have conducted more than 700 directed patrols there.
“There’s still work to be done, but our officers are more engaged and focused than ever,” the spokesperson said.
“The NYPD deploys our officers where crime is reported and in response to community complaints.”
Subway platforms are swept daily while the tracks are cleaned every 30 days, an MTA spokeswoman said, warning that cleaning the tracks more often would hinder service.
