Crime
Safety is the largest concern for NYC subway riders, MTA survey finds
The categories that closely followed were “homeless people,” “people behaving erratically,” “wait times,” and “cleanliness”
July 25, 2022 6:29am
Updated: July 25, 2022 12:06pm
A new Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) survey found that personal safety is the number one concern for New York City subway riders.
In a survey to determine “what needs to improve” to increase rider satisfaction conducted in June, most New York subway riders marked “personal safety and security” as their main concern.
The survey also found that one in every five respondents would ride the city’s subways if there were “fewer people behaving erratically” during their commute.
The concerns over riders’ safety come after several violent incidents have taken place in the subway this year.
In April, at least 13 people were injured after a man opened fire within a subway car in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. One month later, a man was killed in an unprovoked attack when a rider pacing up and down a train car suddenly pulled out a gun and shot a seated man in the torso.
Additionally, there have been several incidents of people being thrown in unprovoked attacks onto the subway tracks, causing injuries and even deaths.
New York Police Department statistics found that overall transit crime has declined. Compared to the 219 felonies reported in the city’s subways in May, June only saw 162. Additionally, crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, assault, burglary, and grand larceny have all dropped month to month.
Compared to the previous year, however, there is a steep increase in crime in the subway. During June 2022, there was an average of 1.84 million felony crimes per million, 5.1% more than June’s 1.75 million average.
NYPD is trying to respond to the increase in crimes compared to last year by adding more security measures to the Big Apple’s subway system.
“New strategies have shown signs of success, and the MTA is encouraged by Mayor Adams’ commitment to add social services and police officers as necessary in the subways to achieve further improvement,” Donovan said in a statement.
The survey was drawn from a “statistically valid” sample of around 1,000 self-selected respondents.
