NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Attacks on transit workers reportedly rose last year even as ridership plummeted 70% amid the pandemic.
Between July and December 2020, a total of 58 NYC Transit workers reported being assaulted, the New York Post reported, citing MTA data. The number doesn't include hundreds of workers who were harassed or spat on.
Five fewer workers were physically attacked during the same period in 2019 even though 4 million more riders were using the subway on average each weekday, according to the report.
As the MTA calls for more police in the transit system, TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano penned a letter to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea this month, writing, "We desperately need a greater police presence and increased safety that can be demonstrated through a reduction in the shockingly high number of attacks."
The TWU Local 100 met with the NYPD this week, and Utano told members that Transit Bureau Chief Kathleen O'Reilly "expects the size of her division to grow in the near future."
In November, O'Reilly said the department was deploying 200 more officers to the subway, according to the report.
