NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) — Sen. Chuck Schumer is demanding the MTA restore around-the-clock subway service in New York City, which has been reduced for cleaning during the pandemic.
The city’s subway system, long celebrated for its all-night service, shuts down each day from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. so trains and stations can be disinfected.
The Senate’s top Democrat says the system should resume 24-hour service immediately. He pointed to a jump in subway ridership, a drop in the number of coronavirus cases reported in the city and the number of people being vaccinated.
“COVID-19, we know, took direct aim at New York City. It cost us lives, it cost us jobs, it cost us money,” Schumer said Sunday. “But we’re here today, more than a year later, and we can see light at the end of the tunnel, including the subway tunnel. There’s light at the end of that tunnel as well.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier this week that he expects to see COVID-19 restrictions lifted and the city “fully reopen” by July 1. He also said he believes July 1 is “the right time” to bring 24-hour subway service back.
But the mayor doesn’t have unilateral power to lift remaining pandemic restrictions and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls the MTA, has the power to restore 24-hour service on the subways. About half of all adults in the city have now had at least one vaccine dose.
Neither Cuomo nor the MTA have announced a specific date for when around-the-clock service might return.
Danny Pearlstein, with the Riders Alliance, told 1010 WINS that the overnight closures have been inconveniencing a lot of people this past year.
“We’re hearing from lots of essential workers—from hospital workers to warehouse workers, even some grocery workers—who need to get to work in the overnight hours and have been really struggling and taking much longer trips as a result of the closure of the subway,” Pearlstein said.
Asked for comment, MTA deputy communications director Aaron Donovan pointed to MTA Chairman Patrick Foye’s comments on 1010 WINS last week: “We are looking to bring 24/7 service back as quickly as we can. Obviously as a ridership continues to, ridership in the 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. period is modest, but that ridership will increase. As it increases as for instance restaurants open, office buildings open as you mentioned, city workers returning in May, and we're very focused on that and looking forward to bringing that that service back.”
Subway ridership took a major dip in the early days of the pandemic. Statistics show subway service is still down more than 50% compared to pre-pandemic days, but subway turnstiles recorded more than 2 million swipes or taps earlier in April for the first time since the pandemic began.
Schumer says he worked to secure billions of dollars in federal relief for the transportation agency to serve New Yorkers who “rely on it fully functioning.”
“The city that never sleeps is waking up from COVID, and so should the subway,” Schumer said.
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