NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York City’s reopening continues this week as 24/7 subway service returns and a curfew on outdoor dining is lifted.
"We're really happy to be bringing 24/7 service back," MTA Chairman Pat Foye told 1010 WINS during an interview Monday morning.
"New York's ethos is 'the city that never sleep' and we didn't like for a minute restricting 24/7 service, and we're delighted to bring it back today," Foye added.
The agency will also add and additional 100 MTA officers per day as a response to the recent uptick in subway slashings and crimes.
Additionally, the MTA has contracted another 100 private security to help police the subways and 80 new NYPD graduates will be dedicated to the transit police, Foye said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday that the NYPD would be adding 250 more officers to patrol the city's transit system.
The additional "special deployment" officers, along with 2,500 already deployed and 500 additional added earlier, makes this the largest NYPD transit deployment in over 20 years, according to the mayor.
Around-the-clock subway service returned at 4 a.m. Sunday, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said at a press conference later in the afternoon.
“There will be no more closure going forward,” Foye said. “The city that never sleeps is again going to have 24/7 subway service.”
“This is a special moment for the city,” he said.
The challenge now is continuing to bring riders back to mass transit, Foye said while announcing new initiatives to do just that.
Subway ridership is up to 2.1 million riders per week day, while buses are at 1.2 million riders.
"3.3 million customers a week day," Foye said. "That is substantially higher than the low number of riders we were carrying in March and April of last year during the worst days of the pandemic."
Before the pandemic, daily subway ridership exceeded 5 million.
Back in May 2020, the MTA shut down subways from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. nightly for COVID-related deep-cleaning and disinfecting at all 472 stations and on thousands of trains. In February of this year, the MTA began closing the subway for just two hours, between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that standards of cleanliness should remain high even after the overnight closures end.
“We will keep cleaning and scrubbing, and customers must continue to wear their masks, but we can loudly and proudly say, ‘Welcome back, New York,’” Sarah Meyer, the MTA’s chief customer officer, said Sunday.
Even as COVID has receded, the past year has seen a rise in violent crime in the transit system, with a slashing spree on the Lexington Avenue line in Manhattan making headlines last week.
Foye would like to see an additional 600 to 800 police officers in stations or on trains, as well as a substantial increase in mental health resources.
“The subway is safe, but it’s not as safe as it can and should be,” he said. “More police officers would bring a greater visible presence to our customer, and frankly, to our employees.”
In addition to the resumption of 24/7 subway service, a midnight curfew on outdoor dining will be lifted on Monday. And this Wednesday, capacity restrictions on businesses — including restaurants, offices, beauty salons and gyms — will be lifted in New York and its neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut.
The midnight curfew on indoor dining will expire on May 31.
It all comes as more and more New Yorkers get vaccinated. Cuomo announced this weekend that more than 50% of adults in the state had completed their COVID-19 vaccine series.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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