A study conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s own advocacy organization for transit riders found that nearly half of the subway stations examined “need more attention,” and that the worst stations had decrepit conditions, including water damage, exposed wires, rodents, foul odors, clogged track drains and general filth.

While calling for additional state and city aid for mass transit — a difficult proposition given the current fiscal downturn — the study also made several proposals: imposing “station impact fees” on new commercial or residential developments built within a quarter-mile of a subway station; enlisting business improvement districts, which are financed by property taxes, to help clear trash and maintain stations; and creating an “Adopt-a-Station” program under which companies and neighborhood groups would help pay for repairs and upkeep.

The findings, contained in a 61-page report [pdf], will come as no surprise to many subway riders, as similar complaints have been made by the Straphangers Campaign and other private advocacy groups. But the new findings, and the recommendations, carry particular weight because they come from the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The committee was created under state law in 1981 as the official voice for the authority’s riders.

The stations are not merely entrances to the subway, but “welcome mats” to the neighborhoods around them, said the committee, which called its report “Unwelcome Mats: New York’s Subway Stations in Disrepair.”

The committee found: “The condition of a subway station sets the tone for users and impacts the perception and vitality of the area it serves. New York has a vested interest in having clean, well-preserved stations, but its current fiscal commitment does not reflect this.”

The committee noted with dismay that New York City Transit, the arm of the authority that runs the subway and buses, announced on July 9 that it would defer various capital projects, including planned renovations at 23 subway stations, because of budget pressures. “This does not bode well for improving stations that have been plagued for years with water damage and neglect,” the report found.

In response to the report, New York City Transit issued a statement saying that the effort to keep stations in decent shape was “challenging, ongoing and one of our top priorities.”

The agency said it would adopt “two immediate steps.” It said that the new “line general managers” who had been appointed to oversee the No. 7 and L lines — as part of an experiment to manage all aspects of subway operation by line, rather than separate departments for tracks, subway cars and stations — were working to analyze how best to improve station conditions. The agency also said it had proposed a $71 million fund to address station infrastructure problems immediately, rather than waiting until a station is due for a full rehabilitation, which can take years to schedule.

For the study, members and staff of the New York City Transit Riders Council, an arm of the advisory committee, inspected 50 of 422 stations and station complexes over a period of several months late last year and early this year. The sample was selected to represent the spectrum of stations from the most heavily trafficked to the least used. At each station selected, the study examined the street-level entrances, the so-called control areas around turnstiles, and the platforms.

The committee had conducted similar surveys in 1994 and 2003.

The report found that 23 of the 50 stations had overall ratings below 70, on a scale of zero to 100, and therefore were “in need of attention.”

The report identified the five worst stations surveyed as the Beach 90th Street on the A and Rockaway Shuttle lines in Queens; the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station on the No. 4 line in the Bronx; the 135th Street-Grand Concourse station on the Nos. 4 and 5 lines in the Bronx; the Jay Street-Borough Hall station on the A, C and F lines in Brooklyn; and the 103rd Street station on the No. 6 line in Manhattan.

Three of the stations had evidently never been renovated. The 149th Street station was renovated in 1992, and the 103rd Street station in 1984.

Four of the five worst stations, the report noted, were in sections of the Bronx and Brooklyn that have been designated as economic development areas. The report said the city’s “lack of participation” in station maintenance had been “glaringly illuminated,” and urged the city provide more support for subway stations.

The study found some signs of hope: A station cleaning pilot program, started in September 2007, appears to have significantly improved conditions

Along with suggestions for enlisting outside aid to repair stations, the committee also urged New York City Transit to pay more attention to water leaks that damage station equipment, to remove services notices promptly, to repair or replace the tactile warning strips that help visually impaired people stay away from platform edges, to ensure that station agents wear their badges and to establish standards for the number and location of trash cans.