NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — In New York City’s subway system, fears of crime are now giving way to fears of canceled trains.
Over the last few weeks, subway crime has seen a steady decline, according to New York City Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg, which is leading to an increase in ridership.
“The significant increase in police presence I think has made a real impact,” she said.
But now, the agency is being plagued by another issue that could deter riders from reentering the system: more and more canceled trains.
“[The MTA] clearly had an uptick in May and our prediction is clearly probably an uptick in June as well,” Feinberg says of the issue.
The New York Post reported the number of cancelled train this month is more than four times higher than this time last year.
And the cancelations seem to be stemming from a hiring freeze implemented by the agency last year, in hopes of helping the agency save some money.
Now, Feinberg says there is a staff shortage.
“This was a predictable consequence of the hiring freeze and so we are not just reacting to it now,” Feinberg said.
She notes that the MTA is working hard to hire and train as many new workers as possible, but the process will likely take a while.
“I want to set expectations that you know this is not going to be something that we dig out of quickly but, that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that we are hiring and training as quickly as we possibly can,” the NYC Transit head said.
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