One of the biggest problems with the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is the high amount of urine stench in elevators. Yes, humans do urinate in elevators, and it has become too much of an issue to ignore.
A new strategy has risen to eliminate the stench of urine inside elevators, and it involves an interesting spray that should be capable of destroying the scent of urine with bacteria-eating enzymes. The spray in question is called the "Urine-B-Gone System" and it is currently installed in the Civic Center Station.
The spray is released hourly in the elevator to keep the scent under control. This is done automatically, but the issue is this: can it truly stand up to the scent of urine?
According to microbiologists Ilana Brito and Jack Gilbert, it is very much possible.
The rail system at BART has been without public toilets for the past 10 years, and this is why commuters have decided to use the elevators as a spot to release bodily fluids. There might be easier ways to get the job done, but so far, bacteria-eating enzymes is the option being used.
Here's the thing, elevator shafts are designed in such a way that they trap all the stink scents. Furthermore, these things are hard to clean, and there are certain parts of an elevator that captures all the things that drip or flow.
Water and waste trapped in an elevator become stagnant, and as such, bacteria find somewhere to grow, and then we get a strong scent. As it stands, the stench is not the only thing elevators have to contend with.
When it comes down to getting rid of stagnant water and all that smelly urine, BART has done a decent job so far by utilizing a water-pumping and waterproofing system known as Fit Bit at the bottom of the Civic Center elevator, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
At the moment, BART doesn't want to talk much about the Urine-B-Gone system since it is currently in the testing phase. We're hoping that after the beta phase is over, more information will be released to give us an idea of how well it works, and whether or not it could work for other problems outside of urine stench.
BART plans to remodel the public bathrooms in the near future. We understand this will begin in the fall, but the whole project won't be completed until 2018. That's a long time, but the bacteria-eating enzyme and other methods used could keep things under control.
