Are Bedbugs Biting Big Apple Commuters?

May 9, 2008 — -- The New York City Transit Authority is defending itself against a report that its subways may be whisking a host of unwanted travelers -- the nonpaying, six-legged, blood-sucking variety -- throughout the city.

Edward Brownbear, lead education instructor for the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development, told an audience at a seminar Tuesday night that the city's trains and stations may be infested with bedbugs, according to media and online reports.

The top bedbug authority reportedly said he had seen the bugs on the wooden benches of Manhattan's Union Square station and The Bronx's Fordham Road station -- as well as on the clothing of a passenger on a train.

Brownbear has since refused to offer further comment to the media. Meanwhile, the department has issued a statement distancing itself from the comments.

"The HPD [Department of Housing, Preservation and Development] employee who spoke of bedbugs in subway stations at a recent HPD seminar was reflecting on his own personal experience, not his work at the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development," the statement read. "HPD is responsible for enforcing the housing maintenance code and our inspectors only issue violations for bedbugs found in residences. The agency does not regulate subway stations."

New York City Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said the authority was unaware of Brownbear's suggestion that the subway system was infested with bedbugs "until we read a blog [Thursday] morning."

He said that while no such infestation has yet been confirmed, "we will send people to check to see whether there is this problem."

But though Seaton added that there have been no similar complaints from subway customers in the past, at least one Manhattan pest control professional said bedbug infestation has been a growing problem on the city's subway system.

"I've been talking about it for five years," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, president of Pest Away Exterminating.

Eisenberg said he personally reported bedbug sightings to subway administrators as long as seven to eight years ago.