New York MTA Buys UV-Light Devices to Kill Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will use ultraviolet light to help remove Covid-19 from its subways, buses and commuter trains as the technology has shown to eradicate the virus from surfaces.

The MTA will spend about $1 million for 150 double-headed lamps and begin next week zapping the interior of subway cars in the yard. While such technology has been used to clean hospitals and urgent-care facilities, agency officials say it’s the first time ultra-violet light is being used to kill the cornavirus on public transit infrastructure.

“This has never been done, as far as I know, on the scale that we plan on doing it with the knowledge that it kills Covid-19,” Mark Dowd, the MTA’s chief innovation officer, told reporters Tuesday when it unveiled the devices.

The MTA’s ridership has fallen dramatically as people work from home and avoid using public transportation. To bring riders back, the agency plans to use innovative disinfecting regimes to help sanitize its fleets and restore ridership confidence.

The MTA anticipates cleaning and disinfecting expenses will cost hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020. New technology may help decrease those costs, officials said.

The MTA will first use the ultra-violet lights on its subways before moving on to buses. It anticipates bringing the technology to the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North Railroad in almost four weeks, Dowd said.

The MTA purchased the lamps from PURO Lighting. David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, said preliminary studies conducted by his center have shown that ultra-violet lighting kills the Covid-19 virus. Brenner has been the MTA’s technical adviser on this project.

“There is still much work to be done, but this is a significant and promising new development,” Pat Foye, the MTA’s chief executive officer, told reporters. “It’s in keeping with our pledge to consider every possible action to keep New Yorkers, our customers and employees safe.”

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