MTA Seeking Insight on Urine Detection Systems

NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued a request in April for information from companies that have successfully installed elevator car urine detection systems in large transit systems, airports or institutions, THE CITY reports. The request outlines how the systems must be “smart” enough to tell the difference between urine and other scents, including perfumes, colognes, food, garbage and smoke. The pee-detecting tech would then have to provide visual, aural or electronic alerts so workers could be dispatched for cleanup. The document notes the technology “must be capable of detecting odors using a minimal amount of sensing devices” and be made up of parts resistant to “acid, extreme temperatures, high humidity, seismic activity, salt, sleet, dust and water.” The agency has 354 elevators across 472 stations, but the MTA did not have figures for how often they have had to be taken out of service because of urine. Other transit agencies, such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, have tested similar systems or have decided to monitor things the old-fashioned way: Bay Area Rapid Transit uses human attendants to check elevators every hour, according to the source.