NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The MTA announced this week that New York City Transit is testing a pilot program that involves installing safety barriers on subway platforms right by the conductor’s cab in an effort to reduce attacks.
In order to enhance visibility, the MTA set up four-foot-tall vertical barriers Monday around previously announced no-standing zones at 125th Street subway station in Harlem.
"We selected the 125th Street location because it was one of our more problematic areas for assaults," Demetrius Crichlow, a spokesperson for the MTA, said.
MTA staff will monitor the pilot program for the next couple of months to observe the effectiveness of the barriers at preventing people from standing near the zone and whether they are able to prevent attacks against conductors.
NYC Transit may install the barriers in other stations if it works.
“In some instances, the floor stripes faded and lost some of their visibility,” Crichlow said. “We hope that adding additional visibility elements create a more well-defined zone of safety and security around our hard-working subway conductors to ensure they can do their work without fear of being attacked on the platform while they simply try to do their jobs.”
These barriers are part of the MTA and NYC Transit's plan to make the subway safer. Other plans set in motion are upgrading physical infrastructure and having more police in stations and on trains. Recently, the MTA announced a plan to change all 150,000 light fixtures in the subway to brighter LEDs for better safety. Also, the NYC Transit put platform barriers at the 191st Street 1 Station in Washington Heights to stop people from getting onto the tracks.