'Unsafe and Filthy': Feces, Urine Bottles Found In Metro Garages

WASHINGTON, DC — Metro has a dirty problem on its hands. A new report from Metro's Office of the Inspector General says "unsafe and filthy conditions" were found at Metro's parking garages.

The study spanned over 20 months. According to a summary of the OIG report, observations such as human feces and bottles of urine were found in multiple parking garages. Garages also contained significant amounts of trash and other debris, used condoms, broken glass and overflowing trash cans.

The report noted that the trash was not cleaned daily, leading items to accumulate for days, weeks or months. It concluded that the conditions attract rodents and other pests, posing a risk of harm to Metro riders.

Metro contracted cleaning employees for these duties, but the employees weren't performing their parking garage cleaning duties 84 percent of the time. In addition, some of these employees were not working their full eight-hour shifts.

The report identifies over $2.2 million spent for contracted cleaning services not completed over a two-year period.

"The root cause of these issues was the lack of oversight by WMATA and contractor officials," the report stated. "There was also little to no implementation of controls over the garage cleaning
process, or of the contract employee’s time and attendance."

A spokesperson for Metro told WAMU that the transit agency is putting together a cleaning schedule to be put up in all parking garages by March 1. Management plans to do a "thorough cleaning" of all parking garages by April 30, the OIG report says. The transit agency is hiring in-house staff to perform the cleaning work.