You're standing on the L train platform at Union Square, minding your own business, when you see it. A flash of gray fur. A twitching whisker near a discarded slice of Joe’s Pizza. If you live in New York, seeing subway rats is basically a rite of passage, like getting overcharged for a studio apartment or learning to ignore the guy screaming about the end of the world on the 4 train. But lately, things feel different. The rats seem bolder. They’re bigger. And frankly, they’re winning.
People love to joke about Pizza Rat, that viral sensation from 2015 that lugged a whole slice down a flight of stairs. It was cute for a second. But the reality of subway rats is a lot grittier and more expensive than a YouTube clip. New York City has been at war with these rodents since the first tunnel was dug in 1904, and despite millions of dollars thrown at "Rat Tsars" and high-tech traps, the population remains stubbornly high.
The Myth of the "Cat-Sized" Subway Rat
Let's clear something up right now: you haven't seen a rat the size of a Maine Coon. It just hasn’t happened.
Biologically, the species we’re dealing with is Rattus norvegicus, the Brown Rat (or Norway Rat). They’re big, sure. An adult can weigh up to a pound and a half, which feels like a brick when it’s scurrying over your foot. But they don't grow to three feet long. Most "giant" rat sightings are actually just people seeing a well-fed adult in a dark tunnel where shadows play tricks on the eyes. Or maybe it’s a muskrat that got lost.
Actually, the real problem isn't their size. It’s their efficiency. A single female rat can have up to six litters a year. Each litter has about eight to twelve pups. Do the math. In a city with 472 subway stations and thousands of miles of track, that’s an exponential nightmare. They hit sexual maturity in about two or three months. It’s a literal breeding machine fueled by discarded Dunkin' Donuts bags and half-eaten halal platters.
Why the Subway is a Rat Paradise
If you were a rodent, the MTA would be your Five-Star resort. Think about it. It’s climate-controlled—roughly. It’s protected from predators like hawks or owls. Most importantly, it has an endless supply of "trash rooms" and track debris.
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The tracks are the main highway.
Rats use the "bench walls" (those concrete ledges along the tunnel walls) as a private catwalk. They move between stations without ever having to dodge a car or a pedestrian. They’ve even learned the train schedules, sort of. They know that when the vibrations start, it’s time to duck into a crevice. Once the train leaves and the platform goes quiet, the buffet opens back up.
New York’s garbage problem is the root cause. We’re one of the only major cities in the world that still piles trash bags on the sidewalk. In the subway, that translates to overflowing bins on platforms. Even if the MTA cleans the tracks—which they do using those massive "vacuum trains"—the sheer volume of litter tossed by commuters keeps the ecosystem thriving. It’s a self-sustaining loop.
The "Rat Tsar" and the War on Fur
In 2023, Mayor Eric Adams famously appointed Kathleen Corradi as the city's first-ever "Director of Rodent Mitigation." The media called her the Rat Tsar. The city spent millions. They tried dry ice to suffocate them in burrows. They tried "Rat Trap" boxes with sensors. They even looked into birth control for rats.
But here is the thing: you can't just kill your way out of a rat infestation.
Bobby Corrigan, arguably the world’s leading "rodentologist" and a frequent consultant for NYC, has said repeatedly that it’s about "Integrated Pest Management." If you kill 1,000 rats but leave enough food for 1,000 more, the survivors will just breed faster to fill the void. It’s called the rebound effect. Honestly, it’s kind of impressive how resilient they are.
Current Methods Being Used:
- Carbon Dioxide (Dry Ice): Dropping dry ice into burrows to put them to sleep permanently. It’s more humane than poison and doesn't hurt birds of prey that might eat the carcass.
- Smart Bins: You’ve seen those Bigbelly compactors. They keep rats out, but they’re expensive to maintain.
- Track Cleaning: The MTA has increased the frequency of track vacuuming to remove the "sludge" that rats love.
- Containerization: This is the big one. Moving trash from loose bags into hard-sided bins. It’s simple, but it’s the only thing that actually works long-term.
Health Risks: Should You Actually Worry?
We’ve all heard the horror stories about the Black Plague. While subway rats aren't currently carrying the bubonic plague through Manhattan, they aren't exactly clean. They carry Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread through their urine. In 2023, NYC saw a record number of human Lepto cases. It can cause kidney failure or liver damage if you’re unlucky.
Then there’s the asthma issue. Rat dander and droppings contribute to poor air quality in the tunnels. If you’re a transit worker spending eight hours a day down there, that’s a real health hazard.
But for the average commuter? The risk is low. Just... maybe don't drop your AirPods on the tracks. If you do, consider them gone. They belong to the city now.
The Psychology of the New York Rat
There’s a weird pride New Yorkers take in their rats. We hate them, but they’re our rats. They represent the grit of the city. There’s a reason why "Rat Power" became a meme. These animals survive in the most hostile environment imaginable. They swim through sewers. They squeeze through holes the size of a quarter. They survive 600-volt third rails.
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But let’s be real: it’s a failure of infrastructure. In cities like Tokyo or even parts of London, you don't see this. Why? Because their waste management is better. Their stations are deeper or designed differently. New York’s subway is old. It’s porous. It was built at a time when we didn't realize we were creating a subterranean playground for vermin.
What Can Actually Be Done?
If you're tired of seeing a rat skip across your shoes while you wait for the Q train, the solution isn't more poison. Poison is dangerous. It gets into the water supply and kills the red-tailed hawks in Central Park.
The real fix is boring. It’s logistics. It’s about the "trash revolution."
The city is currently testing "fixed-rail" trash containers on sidewalks. In the subways, the MTA is experimenting with new types of door seals for equipment rooms. They’re also trying to phase out the old-school open trash cans. If the food disappears, the rats disappear. It’s that simple, and that difficult.
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Actionable Steps for the Average New Yorker
You aren't going to go down there with a sword and fight them, but you can actually help move the needle.
- Stop feeding them. This sounds obvious, but stop leaving half-finished containers of food on the platform benches. If there’s no bin nearby, take it upstairs. Seriously.
- Report "Hot Zones." Use the 311 app. The city actually tracks "Rat Indexing" data. If a specific station is suddenly overrun, it usually means there’s a structural failure or a new food source that needs to be cut off.
- Support Containerization. It’s going to take away parking spots. People are going to complain about the "eyesore" of big bins. But if you want fewer rats on the subway, we have to get the trash off the streets and out of the stations.
- Watch your step. If you see a rat that looks "drunk" or is out in the middle of the day in a high-traffic area, stay away. It might be sick or have ingested poison, making it more unpredictable.
The reality of subway rats is that they are a mirror of our own habits. They exist because we provide for them. Until New York fundamentally changes how it handles its waste, those glowing eyes in the dark tunnels aren't going anywhere. They've been here longer than the subway itself, and they’re perfectly happy to wait us out.
Stay alert, keep your bags off the floor, and maybe keep your pizza slices securely boxed. The rats are watching.