Department of Civil and Urban Engineering, New York University, Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America.
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia Climate School, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 7;19(8):e0307096. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307096. eCollection 2024.
The New York City (NYC) subway system accommodates 5.5 million daily commuters, and the environment within the subway is known to have high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution. Naturally, subway air pollution varies among individuals according to their mobility patterns, introducing the possibility of inequality in PM2.5 exposure. This study aims to evaluate individual and community-level exposure to subway PM2.5. We simulated the intracity home-to-work trip patterns using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) records of 3.1 million working commuters across 34,169 census blocks in four boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx) of NYC. We incorporated the on-platform and on-train measured PM2.5 concentration data for the entire subway system. The mean underground platform concentration in the city was 139 μg/m3 with a standard deviation of 25 μg/m3, while the on-train concentration when underground was 99 μg/m3 with a standard deviation of 21 μg/m3. Using a network model, we determined the exposure of individual commuters during their daily home-work trips. We quantified the mean per capita exposure at the census block level by considering the proportion of workers within the blocks who rely on the subway for their work commute. Results indicate statistically significant weak positive correlation between elevated subway PM2.5 exposure and economically disadvantaged and racial minority groups.
纽约市（NYC）地铁系统每天可容纳 550 万通勤者，地铁内的环境众所周知存在高浓度的细颗粒物（PM2.5）污染。自然地，根据个人的出行模式，地铁内的空气污染在个体之间存在差异，从而存在 PM2.5 暴露的不平等性。本研究旨在评估个人和社区层面的地铁 PM2.5 暴露情况。我们使用纵向雇主-家庭动态（LEHD）记录，模拟了 310 万在四个行政区（曼哈顿、布鲁克林、皇后区和布朗克斯）工作的通勤者在城市内的往返家庭-工作出行模式，这些记录覆盖了 34169 个普查块。我们将整个地铁系统的站台和列车上测量的 PM2.5 浓度数据纳入其中。城市中地下站台的平均浓度为 139μg/m3，标准差为 25μg/m3，而地下列车上的浓度为 99μg/m3，标准差为 21μg/m3。我们使用网络模型来确定个体通勤者在日常家庭-工作出行中的暴露情况。我们通过考虑在街区内依靠地铁上下班的工人比例，在普查块层面量化了人均暴露的平均值。结果表明，地铁 PM2.5 暴露与经济弱势群体和少数族裔群体之间存在统计学上显著的弱正相关关系。
