In my opinion and experience, the New York City subway is safe between 11 p. M. And at 5 a. m., even beyond those periods.
I take the subway even after midnight and very early in the morning. If you're not an experienced New Yorker, how do you know when riding the New York City subway is safe and when it's not? Is there a cutoff time? In general, the subway is extremely safe, but that doesn't mean that crimes can't happen. In saying that, I believe in being intelligent and trusting your gut, which does an incredible job of telling the truth in most situations. From workers to street musicians and merchants, people whose livelihoods depend on the system offered a complex portrait of the subway as the number of passengers approaches the pre-pandemic normality.
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift items to give away each month. Anyone can read what you share. By Karen Zraick, Téa Kvetenadze and Francesca Paris Few New Yorkers know the city's subway from the point of view of Nicolet Seymour. During his night shift cleaning the Eighth Avenue station and 34th Street, he picked up needles and worked with people who refused to move or couldn't move.
Has been cursed and verbally abused. A series of shoving, stabbing and shootings on trains have garnered public attention and, just a few days before the midterm elections, safety in the state subway has become a key issue in the unexpectedly tight race for governor. Although the likelihood of being a victim of violent crime on the subway remains low, according to an analysis by the Times, the topic serves as a basis for television commercials and campaign debates. People who spend the most time in and around the M, T, A system.
Workers, vendors, merchants, and street musicians may be specially trained to assess subway problems and promises. In interviews conducted last week, more than two dozen people spoke to The New York Times and offered a nuanced portrait of a system that is both an indicator and an engine for the city. They described a system with fewer passengers, but more volatile. They spoke of an increase in crime, but of a system that transports the vast majority of New Yorkers who travel every day without incident.
For perspective, the current rate of 1.2 violent crime per million trips is approximately equal to the likelihood of being injured in an accident if you drive a car for two miles. Violent crimes include robbery, murder, rape and the serious crime of assault, but the number of passengers remains well below pre-pandemic levels, aggravating the system's financial problems and increasing fears on sparsely populated trains and platforms. In October, the number of trips on one day of the week was about 3.5 million, about two million fewer than before the pandemic. However, Manhattan's Union Square station, where eight lines converge in a dark space, is almost always crowded.
Amari Singleton said she never felt unsafe when collecting donations for charities, nor had she witnessed violence. But you've noticed a change in attitude. This year, violent crime on the subway represents only about 2.6 percent of New York City's total, but the randomness of many attacks has made passengers fear. There have been nine homicides this year, compared to an average of less than two in the years leading up to the pandemic.
Other high-profile attacks included a mass shooting on the N train during the morning rush hour in April (miraculously, no one died) and the fatal shooting of a Goldman Sachs employee, Daniel Enríquez, on the Q train in May. In response and under pressure from the Republican candidate for governor, Rep. Lee Zeldin Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced in October.
Adams said at the time that nearly half of the homicides in the system this year were believed to have been committed by people with a history of mental health problems. Hochul said the state would establish two new units in psychiatric centers to treat people with serious mental illnesses. John Pfaff, a professor at Fordham Law School specializing in criminal law and statistics, said politicians are paralyzed by gross numbers that belie the fact that there is a minimally significant increase in danger. In Brooklyn, at the B-Q-S stop in Prospect Park, M, D.
Khan, 46, dismissed the governor's announcement. Larry Wright, 20, whose bucket drums provided a constant staccato above the roar of 6 trains passing through Union Square, also expressed reservations about the increase in police presence, and said he was concerned that this could lead to more profiles. Last month, the Roosevelt Avenue station in Jackson Heights, Queens, was the scene of the system's ninth homicide, when prosecutors claim that a man pushed Heriberto Quintana, 48, onto the roads after a fight. Most of the offenses there are more mundane, but their regularity is discouraging.
In Washington Heights, Doshary Abreu, 28, has worked all his life in a convenience store owned by his parents at the 181st Street station, and sees people shooting in the open and harassing travelers. Residents “should feel safe in their own neighborhood, in their own station,” he said. But Laila McCauley, 46, an agent of the station, said she hoped that the increased police presence would alleviate the discomfort she says she has sometimes felt on the part of people who use the system as a shelter. Tony Utano, president of the union, said in a statement that the governor and mayor “are dealing with this crisis,” citing the increase in police officers and social workers, new psychiatric units and the expansion of the Kendra Act this year.
That measure, which bears the name of Kendra Webdale, who was pushed to death in front of a train in 1999, allows judges to demand psychiatric treatment from people considered dangerous. However, given that the number of passengers is still below normal levels, business is less than half of what it was before the pandemic. There used to be a dozen stores next to yours, but now there's only one variety store. John DeCarlo, professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, highlighted that the ramifications of crime in the subway go far beyond the incidents themselves and endanger the system that allows traffic and commerce in the country's most populous city.
Samira Asma-Sadeque, Diane Bezucha, Thalia Juarez, Ana Ley and Kate Masters contributed to the report. While most of what I mention may seem like common sense to veterans, I hope to shed some light on novice New Yorkers and inexperienced subway passengers. This point applies to walking through the streets and taking the subway, but always try to appear that you know where you are going and have an agenda. For 22 years, and working as a security representative for Local 100 of the Transportation Workers Union, he said the system became “illegal” at the height of the pandemic.
Most nights of the week, and even late at night, you'll find it hard to get a seat on the New York subway. As for the safety of the New York subway, if you feel uncomfortable entering the station for any reason (even after you've swiped your card), leave. On the other hand, don't think that the New York subway is “incomplete” because it's underground and smells bad. .
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