The Condition of New York Subway Stations

A lot of New York's subway stations aren't in a good state of repair. You can find out the structural condition of each subway station using Datapolitan's new interactive map. The map reveals the structural condition of New York's subway stations using the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2012 Station Conditions Survey.

The MTA Subway Station Condition map shows the condition of each station based on the MTA's own report. Each subway station on the map is colored based on the percentage of the station's structural components not in a state of good repair (SGA). You can click on individual stations on the map to discover the percentage of structural components at the station not in a state of good repair, the station's overall rating and the status of any planned work at the station.

You can also select to view individual MTA lines on the map. If you select a line from the map sidebar a pie chart automatically updates to reveal the percentage of stations on the line in each category of SGA.


Bacteria really don't care about the structural condition of New York subway stations. That's why so many choose to live there. Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College found genetic material from 15,152 different species when they sampled DNA at 466 New York subway stations.

The Wall Street Journal has created a searchable map, Mapping the Bacteria in New York’s Subways, which allows you to view all the bacteria found in each different subway station or to view all the stations that a specific bacteria type was discovered in.

Most of the bacteria found by the researchers was harmless. There seems to be no clear pattern in the distribution of the harmful bacteria. Presumably if the researchers were to repeat the sampling they would find a completely different set of results. However, if you want to ignore the bacteria data, you can still use the map to plan a journey across New York