Transit safety study overlooked major problems

To the editor:

A recent study which ranked the New York City Transit System as safest for women overlooked many daily challenges both men and women face in our travels.  

Subway riders have to deal with conductors who close the doors while we cross platforms attempting to transfer from a local to an express train. Try looking for the proper way to dispose of newspapers as more trash cans are removed from stations. 

Riders have to deal with aggressive panhandlers, eating as if one is at home or at a restaurant, those hogging two seats, yawning, coughing or sneezing without covering up and the release of flatulence. 

Entertainers use crowded cars as their own personal gym. Women may still be accosted by gropers while perverts engage in other unhealthy sexual activities. Everyone has grown tired of dealing with rats, mice and litter. The odds of finding a working, safe and clean bathroom for “relief” in time are still limited.

Larry Penner