An alarming study that kind of makes you wonder...
During Autumn of 2000, a team of scientists at the Department of
Forensics at University of Toronto removed a row of passenger seats from
the Bloor Line subway car for analysis into cleanliness. Despite TTC's
claim that the interior of their trains are cleaned on a regular basis, the
scientists made some alarming discoveries. The analysis was broken down.
This is what was found on the surface of the seats:
- 4 types of hair sample (human, mouse, rat, dog)
- 7 types of insect (mostly fleas, mostly alive)
- vomit originating from at least 9 separate people
- human urine originating from at least 4 separate people
- human excrement
- rodent excrement
- human semen
When the seats were taken apart, they found:
- the remains of 6 mice
- the remains of 2 large rats
- 1 previously unheard of fungus
It is estimated that by holding one of the arm-rests, you are transferring,
to your body, the natural oils and sweat from as many as 400 different
people. It is estimated that it is generally healthier to smoke five
cigarettes a day than to travel for one hour a day on the TTC. It is far
more hygienic to wipe your hand on the inside of a recently flushed toilet
bowl before eating, than to wipe your hand on a TTC seat before eating.
It is estimated that, within Toronto, more work sick-days are taken because
of bugs picked up whilst travelling on the TTC than for any other reason
(including alcohol).
