In New York they began to fight against the proliferation of rats: the detector will work

New Yorkers will know which subway stations have the most rats as a new update to the subway app will track the rodent population. Let’s figure out why this kind of rat control can be effective.

The rat population in New York has increased by 800 percent in less than 65 years, and experts estimate that about 90% of the city is infested with them. Some tourists even come to the Big Apple with the goal of seeing as many rats as possible.

The rodents are permanent residents and have been in New York City since the 18th century, and their population is estimated at about 2 million, according to The Atlantic. It is believed that 250 years ago, the Norway rat, also known as the gray/brown rat, arrived in America by ship from Europe. No one knows when the first rat came ashore, but experts are pretty sure they came during the American Revolution.

The creators of the urban travel planning app Transit have added a rat detector feature to the New York subway.

The idea is that users can report how many rats they see in their subway station, and the app analyzes the data to give each stop a rat rating. It ranges from zero to a lot.

“It just blew up,” Transit lead copywriter Joe McNeil commented on the feature’s success to The New York Post. He added that some of his colleagues did not expect the rodent control tool to become so popular. But those who hail from the Big Apple—or at least who are familiar with the history of the Pizza Rat Internet meme (a rat carrying a huge slice of pizza down the stairs)—were not shocked.

The new feature debuted in August 2023, but has become particularly popular in recent weeks, thanks in part to social media posts. In October, more than 17 thousand responses were received.

“We’ve launched a rat detector project,” a Transit spokesperson told Insider, “and passengers can also give their ride a star rating and answer questions about their transit experience. We then work with transit agencies to take that feedback and improve transit service.”

As of November 3, the Grant Avenue stop in Brooklyn was the most rat-infested of all New York City subway stations, according to self-reports from Transit users.

Several New Yorkers took to social media to discuss Transit’s new feature, and a user’s video explaining the feature has received more than a million views. Some expressed horror at the rats in the comments.

Tourists visiting New York City are taking “rat tours” to get an authentic experience, according to a report from The New York Post. Kenny Bollwerk gives free nighttime tours of rat spots: “rats are like the mascot of New York City. People want to see them for themselves.”

The rat problem is endemic to the Big Apple. Day after day, New Yorkers remain vigilant to avoid the city’s overlords. Last year, New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, “It’s not the rats that run this city, it’s us.”

However, only 39 percent of residents agree with it, while 28 percent believe that rodents have power, and 33 percent believe that “we have a democracy with them.”

The fight against rodents has been going on for a long time, but so far to no avail. The New York City administration has been trying to control the population for generations, but the number of cases of rats appearing in parks and other places in the city has only increased since the pandemic. According to former New York rat catcher Randy Dupree, the fight went quite well between 1969 and 1986, when the city implemented a three-phase approach: eradication, cleanup and awareness. But after the city budget decreased, the method was too expensive.

Even so, New York dropped from second to third place on pest control company Orkin’s list of “cities with the most rodents.”

Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, rats endured a multimillion-dollar crackdown aimed at reducing their numbers by increasing trash collection and improving housing inspections in neighborhoods. The city even started a program to use dry ice and place it in burrows. This proved to be an effective but time-consuming process. It’s also quite humane: dry ice puts rats into a deep sleep and they never wake up.

In early 2023, Mayor Eric Adams hired former elementary school teacher Kathleen Corady as the city’s chief rat control coordinator, also known as the “rat czar,” to address the critical problem. But so far, contraceptives and traps have been reported to be fruitless.

City officials insist they are winning the war on rats: “New York used to be known for its bad streets, but in the future we will be known for our clean streets,” Adams promised earlier this summer. .

In June, City Hall reported a 15 percent drop in rat incidents compared to 2022.