Log in Subscribe

A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $3.20 a month.

MTA workers say subway mayhem, violence has increased

Posted

Responding to the recent series of violent attacks in the subway, among them the fatal burning of Debrina Kawam on an F train in Coney Island and the stabbing of an MTA worker at the Pelham Parkway station, Mayor Eric Adams, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and MTA CEO Janno Lieber all assured the public that riding the subway is safe. 

MTA workers don’t share the same sentiment. 

“Let me just say that in the time that I’ve been here, it hasn’t been like this,” said a 25-year MTA employee who works at the information booth of a Manhattan station. The worker requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak with the press. 

Referencing the Jan. 2 stabbing of his coworker in the Bronx, he continued: “They used to have these signs that used to say, if you commit a crime against a transit employee, you would get seven years. I have not seen or heard that of yet.”

A technician who works out of the bi-level 50th Street Station serving the C and E trains said he also felt unsafe working underground. “A homeless guy went down the stairs over here and threw some kind of substance on me,” said the technician, an 11-year MTA employee. Speaking while on break in the MTA locker room, he added: “It’s not safe down here. We need more protections.” 

But despite numerous violent incidents along the system — Kawam’s murder was the 10th in the subway last year, double the number of killings in 2023 — major crimes on the MTA decreased by 5.4 percent in 2024 from a year earlier, according to NYPD data. “These high-profile random acts of violence have overshadowed our success,” Adams said at a Jan. 6 press briefing. “Where our subway system is on the numbers is an impressive place to be.” 

Tisch credited the decrease in crime to an increased police presence in the subway. “[W]e are committed to finding and training talented, dedicated people who want to do the greatest job in the world,” she said at the briefing. “We know that more cops works.” 

Both subway workers agreed that more cops in the system would help ensure the safety of riders and workers alike. But they also said that police presence alone is not the ultimate solution. “The system is too big. How many cops do you think it’s going to take for a cop to be in every station in the New York City subway system?” the station agent asked. 

At his particular station downtown, police officers patrol from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. But the station is most dangerous at night, he said. “There’s a lot of explicit stuff that goes on here in the nighttime. Children [are] not being able to walk through the station and be at peace and safe, because of things that go on in the underpass,” he said. 

With more people expected to use the subway following the start of congestion pricing, police presence is especially important, he added. 

2 cops on every night train

More cops will be coming to the system. In her State of the State address last week, Governor Kathy Hochul, noting that criminal activity in the subway goes up at night, said the state would partner with the city to temporarily deploy about 750 additional NYPD officers on station platforms and 300 on trains. The NYPD itself later said that two officers would be on every train operating overnight. The increases come in addition to the 1,000 National Guard troops who patrol the system. 

The additional deployments, which began earlier this month and are being paid for by the state, will prioritize 30 subways stations and transit hubs where about half the number of crimes take place. 

A department spokesperson said the “ambitious plan” would be rolled out in phases, with the first phase involving 100 cops. “Additional phases will be rolled out over the coming weeks with the expectation that the full operation will be complete by the end of the month. This is a massive undertaking that involves specialized training as well as logistics and resource management,” the spokesperson said. 

Notwithstanding the decrease in reported crime, the 50th Street station technician said violence in the system could be attributed to the rise in homelessness. “[The government] needs to come down and get rid of homeless encampments,” he said, gesturing to the end of his station, where several homeless people sleep. In 2024, New York saw a 53-percent spike in unhoused people compared with 2023. “People are angry right now and the city’s not doing anything about it,” he said. 

Hochul, while noting that the state has so far invested $1 billion to reforming the mental-health system, said dedicated teams are working to get the homeless out of the subway and into housing. 

“We cannot allow our subway to be a rolling homeless shelter,” she said during her State of the State address. “This is the game plan: More police where they’re needed, safety infrastructure, and critical interventions to help the homeless and mentally ill get the help they need instead of languishing on trains and frightening commuters.”

Adams, though, maintains that the subway is not as dangerous as New Yorkers fear. “We’re the safest big city in America,” he said. “It is clear perception always overrides reality.” 

To which the downtown station agent replied: “Does he ride the subway?”

Lieber, the MTA CEO, acknowledged that violent incidents are having a bearing on people’s perception of safety underground, despite the decrease in crime. 

“The overall stats are positive,” he said on a Bloomberg podcast earlier this month, adding that crime last year was down 12.5 percent compared with 2019, the year before the pandemic. “But there’s no question that some of these high profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel less safe.” 

He said that “there’s a little bit of disorder that’s crept in” to the system. Lieber said some of the responsibility lies with the criminal justice system, which “has to do their job,” particularly concerning repeat offenders. 

None of which assuaged the international president of the Transport Workers Union, John Samuelsen. 

“He is abhorrently, abhorrently indifferent to the trials and tribulations of the workforce at the MTA, and should be fired,” Samuelsen, a former president of TWU Local 100, said of Lieber. “Transit workers have been subjected to the most heinous assaults under his tenure, and his reaction is to downplay the violence in the system, as if it’s not a problem.” 

As for how MTA workers can be better supported, the station agent said, “Let’s make an example of all these people that’s out here causing harm to my coworkers.”

Comments

1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • Oldmanlabor

    Many of these issues may not be crimes but quality of life issues. Lieber does not mention people being pushed in front of trains or all the crimes that go unreported. What about the crimes that happen on buses. Also the emotional toll on workers is more than they should handle. Samuelson was president of TWU and crime was just as bad. Now he is in charge of International union with a lot more influence but the abuse workers face is getting worse. Thinking you might not make it home or might get attacked can get workers and riders stressed and suffer physically/psychology. We need real solutions not just temporary patches and band aids.

    Saturday, January 25 Report this