I was assaulted at the D train station at 145th St one night coming from Hell's Kitchen, the criminals took my iPhone 7 Plus and used my credit cards. When I went to the police they told me to go to the "MTA Police." When I got to the precinct at 145th St and said what happened to me, the response of two officers was: "We will never catch the guys, do not waste your time and go home."
I could not report the crime.
2
I never see the cops in the subway anymore and in the streets either . Good job if u can get it !
3
"Still, transit crimes were up 3.8 percent last year, and have been increasing since 2014. "
And as we all know, Deblahsio, the world's worst mayor, took office Jan 2014 ...
There are rarely ever any police on the trains / at the stations. (If there are, theyre at the 42d St main station on business days during the morning hours - when theyre the least needed.)
No, I do not feel completely safe on the trains after dark. Too many mentally ill / homeless people all over. Some of the beggars are verbally violent and you never know what will happen. Too many turnstile jumpers / people sliding through the emergency exit door. People riding in between cars to use it as a "restroom". People sit on the steps of the station - you have to crawl over them to get to the train at night. Never any cops around. A lot of the stations are filthy. (I have to crawl over homeless / drunks / meth addicts every morning to exit to go to my midtown office at my billion dollar public company.)
This isnt some free govt service - we pay a fare to ride. The city has no pride in itself.
I wont mention come June July August half the train cars will have little to no a/c. (is "safe" merely safe from robbery / violence, or does that include an actual "healthy" environment, physical and or mental?)
7
How can the Mayor and the Police Commissioner always say crime is down? There are more mentally ill people in this city than I have ever seen! Even if they're not, supposedly, homeless and just got out of the hospital (for the last 4 weeks). They ask for money and then when they are ignored, they get verbally abusive, start shoving people and then get off the train to mingle with the rest of the population. People are easily angered by the stupidest things! If 2 people get off the train, it doesn't mean that 10 can get on! We're tired of delays, signal, track and switch problems after those things are supposed to be fixed on the weekends. Stop thanking us for our patience which left the station years ago! We need police on the trains. No need to spend millions of dollars to clean the trains - unless you can stop people from eating on them at all hours of the day and night and leaving their food under or on the seats. Also, BRING BACK THE SEATS ON THE E TRAINS!
12
My chief problem with the subway is not safety, it's its complete unreliability and the incompetence of the staff. If I have to ride home at night at 2 a.m. I'm less concerned with the late hour than that my 20-minute trip is going to take an hour or more because of delays.
Once, at 3 a.m., after the announcer repeated several times that the next stop would my home stop, the doors of the car shut and a new stop was announced. The subway hurtled 60 blocks beyond my stop and I was left on a scary, deserted platform where I had to wait 30 minutes for a train to take me in the direction I needed. I wrote the MTA saying that had I been sexually assaulted or otherwise hurt I would have sued.
And just last week, because of a combination of subway malfunction (switches, handling of "sick passengers") and announcer misinformation on which I relied, I arrived more than an hour late to a session in which I had to make a selection. By the time I arrived, all of my choices had been taken. I complained to the MTA, but they probably just circular filed it.
Fix the trains!
12
I wasn't here for the high-crime hey days of the 80s -- but if subways are getting more "dangerous", it's mainly from the sad and constant conveyor belt of human tragedies that pass through it everyday on an almost non-stop basis.
The "Showtime" acrobats and Mariachi Bands, and solo singers have all but been replaced by an endless stream of hard luck stories.
Meanwhile the MTA plans for a fare hike, soon to be followed by yet another, and luxury apartments sell for $238 million...
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@N. Smith
Without a doubt, there are many human tragedies, but it's always been my impression that violent subway crimes are committed by young people, usually young men. You have to be bold and very quick to grab someone's possessions and bolt out the door the moment it opens. I never wear fancy jewelry and don't have an expensive phone or bag so fortunately am less of a target. Knock wood. I carry my money on my person in a zippered pocket (preferably, an inside pocket) or in a huge tote bag or a backpack. It would be harder to snatch those and make a clean getaway.
The homeless people take up several seats sleeping and sometimes are stomach-turningly smelly, but they're homeless and many have no hope. I can only get so angry.
I still see plenty of performers in the cars. I could do without them; it's horrible being a captive audience. But the other day, I fished for a dollar and walked after a group of older black men who were singing a capella. They were talented, but mainly it made me so sad that they had to sing on the subway to make a living. There but for the grace of God....
If the MTA is granted another fare hike, there should be a mass protest. This dysfunction cannot go on.
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@Lifelong Reader
Point taken. But my comment was not meant in any way as a comparison, it was merely an observation.
And yes, if the MTA took more responsibility to do something besides raising fares, that would be one less problem this already over-burdened transit system would have to contend with.
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@N. Smith
You wrote:
"I wasn't here for the high-crime hey days of the 80s -- but if subways are getting more "dangerous", it's mainly from the sad and constant conveyor belt of human tragedies that pass through it everyday on an almost non-stop basis."
By "human tragedies," I assumed you meant homeless people, mentally ill people pushed out from hospitals, desperately poor people. These people generally aren't dangerous to me. It's usually young men, who may not have the best opportunities, but they don't have to rob people to survive. They also don't need to settle their vendettas in the subway. It's also usually young men who carry and use weapons on strangers.
7
I started riding the NYC subway alone in the '60s, when I was nine. At first, I made scheduled trips from the outer boroughs to the then extremely dangerous Lower East Side, or to visit my grandparents in Harlem. By the time I became a young teenager, I rode all over the city wherever I wanted, but usually not late at night. I used to visit Manhattan art moviehouses on my own, and in the summer, share the then-ripped up piers on the lower west side with gay men who were picnicking and sunbathing. It was routine to walk through the train to other cars. The rare cases of people being pushed onto the tracks was a specter that never left.
In the '80s and '90s, the subways became so dangerous that I, a pretty undaunted urban traveler, was afraid to take them after 9:30. In the Oughts, safety returned. I resumed taking them at night, and since about 2008, there have been many nights when I've used the subway at 2 a.m. or later. I don't like doing it, but the cost of constantly taking a taxi would be prohibitive. I should say that my starting and ending stops are well-populated and well-lit. The ride isn't too long if the system is functioning, and my neighborhood is safe.
If I'm concerned about the hour, I try to ride in the car with the conductor, which is often the fifth car. If someone sketchy were on the car, I would get out at the next stop and change cars. I continue to remain aware of who is around me when the train pulls into the station to prevent being pushed.
11
Not much to break into wholesome song about, except the weather!
“Forget the cold. It’ll hit 46 today, under sunny skies, and 61 tomorrow. Rainy and cooler later in the week.”
Tune of “When I’m 64”
When it gets warmer
Almost spring air
Just one day from now.
Will those wind chills saying five or ten below
Seem like they were ages ago.
There was a night-time “New York Today”
That was winter fun!
But that’s an old-news day.
Look at this Tuesday
When it’s sixty-one.
12
Oops, "It’ll hit 46 today" should be "It’ll hit 56 today." I re-typed when I should have relied on cut-and-paste. It was 46 outside when I sent that - yeah, yeah, that's the excuse. (And I'm one of those who tends to kvetch about any inaccurate quoting when using quote marks.).
Sorry for the misquote, Azi!
6
The subways are scary at night. I often travel late at night, because I work in a restaurant. I started to take lyfts and yellow cabs home to avoid the late night subway. It was a costly lifestyle change, but I deemed it necessary. Now yellow cabs and lyfts are more expensive. What am I going to do?
13
In the mid 80's I attended Pratt Institute in BedStuy for my Masters degree. Subway travel at that time was not good. There was alot of crime. For two years after work, I would ride the A train twice a week to the Clinton-Washington station. Then after class, at around 9 or 9:30 PM I had to walk to the station to get back to Port Authority. I always made sure I traveled with a classmate. Often they would get off before my arrival at 42nd and 8th and I would be alone. As a young woman I knew that I was a target itting on that train dressed in my business suit and high heels. I wore my sunglasses (yes, at night..lol) and made sure to not make eye contact with anyone. I never felt unsafe. I never once thought about not riding the subway. I did it because that was what New Yorkers did. There was no choice. I remember how happy my parents were when I arrive home on school nights. When I think back on it now I realize that they were probably on edge the entire time imagining all the things that could happen to their little girl. From my experience I don't believe the subways are as dangerous as they were in the 70's and 80's.
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@Lori
Pratt is in Clinton Hill, which borders Bedford-Stuyvesant. There is a difference. My family moved out of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the 1960s because it was so dangerous.
3
You say that "transit crimes ... have been increasing since 2014." That is the same year that mayor DiBlasio became mayor of NYC. Coincidence?
14
In the 1970s, riding the train, I used to see quite modest gold chains being yanked off of women's necks by very fast bandits, who saw easy targets, struck, and leapt out just-opened doors.
Also handbags.
They had good timing.
But they weren't the brightest of lights in the city. They are not to be compared to Jean Valjean, who stole a loaf of bread. Doing so has been a mistake.
5
@B.
Dear B,
You have a good eye for crime in the subways. And you're a perceptive reader too. Have you tried running for political office?
1
@B.
I don't know a single person, including people of color, who has ever excused violent subway criminals.
1
Why, don't you know, they haven't had the chances other (poor) people have had, they have suffered, and they are (according to their mothers) good boys. And when they are mowed down by rivals just like them, everyone comes and puts votive candles many yards long where the crime occurred.
Who lights votive candles for the old women whose hips were broken while they were being mugged, for the middle-aged men who are pushed and jackknife over fences, injuring their backs? The women in neck braces whose surgeries now are for naught? Women pushing baby carriages, pushed to the ground and getting head injuries? Subway crime, street crime -- you will find many apologists.
8
I moved away from New York in 1993 just as it was getting better. I would never have brought my wife to the New York I left, but I fear it has started reverting, and I hope she never has to ride the sort of subway I used to.
4