Rodriguez said the bulk of incidents involved conductors being spit on or attacked. MTA statistics show subway workers have been harassed or assaulted more than 350 times this year. “We don’t want to bring additional attention to ourselves,” said Jonluke Rodriguez, a TWU Local 100 chair who represents subway train operators. While union officials said they welcome the addition of police officers in stations and on platforms, they also expressed concern from train crew members that the announcements could drive disturbed individuals to violently turn on conductors when they poke their heads out of train car windows at stops. Tony Utano, the president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, has repeatedly called for more police in the subway.īut some union officials who represent train operators and conductors say they have heard grumbling from train crew members that the announcements about police can increase dwell time - the amount of time trains spend in a station while riders load and unload - though MTA officials said there is no indication that service has slipped as a result of the public safety campaign. “Both to reassure them that there’s a police presence but also, in some cases, so they know where to turn if something that concerns them is going on.” ‘They Don’t Like It” “What we’re hearing from our customers is they love knowing that there are cops on the platform,” said Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and CEO.

Transit officials say the overall safety plan is important to a system whose ridership is still far below pre-pandemic levels. “It did make me feel a little comfortable, but at the same time, you just never know.” “It may help a little bit as far as making someone on the train think twice if they’re planning to do something bad,” said Elena Rodriguez, who was waiting for a northbound C train at the 50th Street stop in Manhattan. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams in late October rolled out an expanded subway safety campaign, which beefed up the NYPD presence in the system through 1,200 daily overtime officer shifts, assigned MTA Police officers to stations connected to commuter rail hubs, and added on-train announcements to the subterranean soundtrack. “It’s background noise, if I had to be honest.” “Everybody’s got their headphones in, so who’s really listening to any of the announcements?” Ryan Eversley, a conductor on the Q line told THE CITY at the line’s 96th Street terminal. Two Dozen Subway Cars Struck in Overnight Weekend Graffiti Storm.‘Unruly Person’ Subway Incidents Rattle Riders, Workers and Cops.Those phrases have in recent weeks become increasingly familiar to subway riders as part of a city and state anti-crime push that has significantly increased the police presence on platforms, trains and in stations throughout a system grappling with a more than 40% increase in major felonies from last year, according to NYPD statistics.īut some train crew members and leaders of the largest union for transit workers say the announcements have been less well received by the conductors who are supposed to recite them over train speakers whenever police officers alert them in advance to their presence. One stop to the south, the conductor weighed in again, saying, “We have police available at this station.”

“If you have any questions, concerns, reports, the NYPD is located at this station,” the conductor announced. As a Brooklyn-bound C train pulled into the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station during the evening rush earlier this month, subway riders heard one version of an announcement that is now being repeated at many stops along the line.

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