The station’s name is Court Street — and it should be held in contempt.
The wall tiles of the R-train station under Montague Street have turned a sickly mixture of yellow and black, and a layer of grease and gunk cover the entire tunnel.
The station provides many visitors with their first impression of Brooklyn — and you know what they say: first impressions are disgusting impressions.
“They’ve been neglecting it for a long time,” said Melinda Myrie of East Flatbush. “We have so many MTA workers and they do nothing.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s explanation: Well, it’s darn hard to keep a station clean.
“Stations adjacent to under-river tunnels present more of a challenge, requiring a specialized effort to maintain,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
It could be that the MTA just wants to help R-train coaches feel at home. The Straphangers Campaign just announced that the R line has the dirtiest cars in the system, with only 27 percent of cars classified as “clean.”
Ortiz did promise a clean-up of the station before the end of May. But to Tanisha Sheckleford from Canarsie, the agency needs to do something long-term at Court Street.
“I wish they’d fix the station,” Sheckleford said. “There are lots of rats here. I try not to pay attention to it as much, but it’s hard to run from.”
The station handles 37,000 weekday passengers, making it the busiest in Brooklyn. To Myrie, that alone means that the MTA should stop giving Court Street the Dangerfield treatment.
“In other countries you can eat from the floor in the subway stations,” Myrie said. “This station needs to be respected.”
