This subway line is “D” absolute pits!
The D train, running from Brooklyn to The Bronx, took the steepest dive in car cleanliness from 2008 to 2009, according to the Straphangers Campaign report on subway cleanliness.
A stunning 80 percent of the Sixth Avenue express line was listed in neat condition in 2008 — but that deteriorated to 38 percent last year, the annual report shows.
“I’ve seen throw-up” on the line, said Mila Tirona, 63, who has been riding the D for 14 years from her home in Brighton Beach to Midtown. “The worst part is when they go to the depot and they try and mop it, the water is dirty.”
Both the Straphangers Campaign and MTA employees blame the filth on fewer cleaning employees — due to budget constraints — at the terminals of many lines.
“On this line, at least two to three cleaners per shift were cut,” said Leroy Armstead, 63, a conductor for 23 years who works on the D line.
The 2009 budget reduced the number of car cleaners from 1,181 with 155 supervisors in 2008 to 1,138 with 146 supervisors in 2009.
But it’s not only D riders who feel like they’re taking a trip on the grand funk railroad.
Surveyors — on the hunt for wet, sticky spots, rolling bottles, open food containers and seats too nasty to sit on — rated 50 percent of subway cars as “clean” in a survey conducted in the fall 2009, down from 57 percent in 2008.
“Eleven of the 22 subway lines — fully half — grew worse, while five lines improved and six lines stayed the same,” the report said.
Besides the D, the lines that got messier were the 1, 4, 5, 7, B, F, G, J, M and the soon-to-be-canceled V.
The N is the most improved, going from 23 percent to 63 percent.
Researchers checked 2,200 subway cars between Sept. 3 and Nov. 24, 2009.