B44 Taken Out Of Service For Bedbug Fumigation

A B44 bus was taken out of service last Monday after a rider claimed to spot bedbugs on a fellow passenger.

According to the Daily News:

The bus was sent back to the depot so it could be “treated” by the MTA’s pest-control contractor, but no bedbugs were found in the vehicle, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz. He could not say where the Brooklyn bus was along the route, which runs between Williamsburg and Sheepshead Bay, when the frenzy struck.

The paper reports that the Monday bug sighting prompted a mass exodus of riders off that bus.

It’s just one of the latest spottings in a rash of bedbug related incidents at the MTA. The Daily News, which is serving as the city’s preeminent outlet for bedbug reports, says that there have been at least 21 incidents in recent weeks, including three sightings on the Q train was well as in the locker rooms of N and Q line motormen.

Local pols are calling on the MTA to notify riders of possible infestations within 24 hours of a sighting.