NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Two New York City mayoral candidates on Thursday offered their solutions to subway crime and violence, should they be elected.
Ridership on the city’s subway system is ramping back up as the nation continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Though, the numbers are not nearly what they used to be – and it could be because of a fear of crime, not COVID-19.
In fact, the MTA surveyed 33,000 riders in March and found roughly 36% of those who used the subways before the pandemic were not willing to use the system now because of fear of violence.
“They are still afraid to use system that is the life blood of New York,” says Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral candidate Eric Adams.
To ease concerns, he is suggesting that the MTA to pay for bystander training through the grassroots organization Hollaback.
“That is crucial for us as we are a set of eyes that could assist our law enforcement community, but in a trained way, not in a reckless way,” he said.
Fellow candidate Shaun Donovan also wants more investment in the MTA, which has been looking to provide more resources for customers.
“The MTA has been asking for more mental health professionals… the mayor has cut back on that during the pandemic,” Donovan said.
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg has said she would like to see two officers on every subway platform, and Donovan agrees that police officers could be better utilized in the city’s underground.
“We have adequate police officers in the city. What we have not done is to target them to the places and the issues that New Yorkers are really focused – on guns and violent crime,” he said.
However, he wants to see how the hundreds of extra officers already in the system continue to act before they discuss adding even more.
“We should continue to see what happens with ridership [and] what happens with crime levels,” he said.
The NYPD said subway crime is down this year about 62% compared to the same time last year, in line with ridership declines which are down 65% from pre-pandemic levels.
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