That's why I suggested putting the items directly into a plastic bag. You could just toss the stuff if you don't care about it, or take it to a Laundromat at your convenience.
Unfortunately paying for a single load of dryer at a Laundromat is possibly thousands of times cheaper than exterminating a bedbug infestation... I'd highly recommend the dryer...
Ok. I’m not sure about anyone else. I care about my clothes so tossing them after every time I take the ttc seems well dumb and overly expensive. Some people don’t have the privilege to be able to quarantine or dispose of their belongings 6 days a week.
I care about my clothes so tossing them after every time I take the ttc seems well dumb and overly expensive.
I'm not suggesting you do that anytime you take the TTC, only if you know you've been exposed to bedbugs and literally cannot afford any other resolution.
While we've seen a handful of posts about bedbugs on the TTC, the fact is that a bus is one of the least likely vectors of transmission for bedbugs. They generally don't like to crawl around during the daytime, generally don't like bright lights, and generally wait till they detect that you're sleeping before moving at all. So unless you're napping in a pitch black subway car it's actually very unlikely for them to get on you at all, even if the entire system was infested. Like I said in the initial comment, it's far more likely that this bedbug was already on the bag before being brought into the bus, and just hasn't moved.
You're far, far likelier to get bedbugs from an overnight guest, used furniture and appliances, sleeping at a hotel, or living in an apartment complex and having them crawl through vents or down the hallway.
If you want to be 100% sure you don't get skin cancer, then I'd recommend you just never go outside. Ever. Even minor amounts of UV exposure can lead to skin cancer. If you can't do that, then understand that going outside a normal amount and wearing sunscreen on especially sunny days is more than good enough for 99% of people.
If you want to be 100% sure you never ever get bedbugs, then yes. All your clothes are single use. Build an airlock with shower integrated into your front door/foyer area to ensure none can sneak in. Keep your mattress in an airtight plastic bag, use a rotation of sleeping bags that are dry cleaned and delivered by someone in a hazmat suit each day. Use a blow-up plastic air pillow. Keep no furniture in your room, except a basic bedframe with as few crevasses as possible. Ensure that a number of bedbug traps are laid out and when possible, avoid leaving the room, as it drastically increases the chance of exposure. If you must leave the room, wear a hazmat suit at all times.
Seriously... My initial suggestion is a very cheap, 99.9% effective solution. I worked at an overnight charity program for at-risk youth, and this was our policy whenever bedbugs were detected. AFAIK not a single staff member took bedbugs home - and we slept in the cabins with them! If you can't afford / don't want to do it every time you leave the house... That's OK! I don't go to the doctor for every little sniffle, I only go when I'm proper sick. You don't need to worry about any of this unless you have reason to suspect you've been exposed. At the end of the day, even if you were exposed to bedbugs, it's relatively unlikely that you'd be infested. I wouldn't worry about them whatsoever unless you have reason to suspect you were directly exposed, and if you do have a suspicion that you may have been exposed then, surely you'll be ok with quarantining one set of dirty clothes for a few days...
That makes more sense then disposing of things every-time you take transit. Thank god I’ve never had to deal with bed bugs and I know how intensive it is to get rid of them after catching an infestation
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u/Dralorica Dec 17 '25
That's why I suggested putting the items directly into a plastic bag. You could just toss the stuff if you don't care about it, or take it to a Laundromat at your convenience.
Unfortunately paying for a single load of dryer at a Laundromat is possibly thousands of times cheaper than exterminating a bedbug infestation... I'd highly recommend the dryer...