Surfin' MTA

@NYCTSubway running on your trains is hella fun💯❤️. Hoping to be a Mta worker and get them keys gang💙😃 pic.twitter.com/YP7wNFxOjY

— Valaklikesmen (@valakryie) May 5, 2022

 

Ridgewood Post

Reports of “subway surfing” have jumped by nearly 363% since 2020, according to MTA figures provided to THE CITY.

In the first five months of this year, there have been 449 reported incidents of people riding on top of or outside trains, MTA data shows — almost as many as the 461 in all of 2019.

That’s up from 97 for the same time period in 2020, when subway ridership plummeted by more than 90% during the peak of the pandemic and from 68 last year.

“We have hundreds of recorded incidents that this has occurred in our system in the last few months,” Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, said Monday during an MTA committee meeting. “I am going to implore anyone who is watching this to tell your kids, to tell your friends: Do not do this.”

The MTA provided the numbers to THE CITY last week amid a string of recent high-profile subway surfing incidents, several of which have been posted to social media.

On Thursday, a 15-year-old boy was critically injured after police said he hit his head against an unknown object while riding atop a No. 7 train as it approached the 111th Street station in Queens.

“Oh my God,” gasped Maritza Santos, 44, whose 14-year-son, Eric Rivera, was killed in November 2019 after striking something as he rode on top of a No. 7 train near Queensboro Plaza. “I can’t believe they don’t learn unless they didn’t see what happened to Eric.

“I’m just shocked that kids are still doing this,” she told THE CITY.

Santos, who has three other sons, said she was pulling for the unidentified teenager, who police said was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center after suffering severe head trauma.

“I pray that he gets well,” she said. “I understand what his family is going through.”

In a graphic video obtained by THE CITY, the teen’s legs dangle over the side of the train car while he lays bloodied on top.

The voice of a woman on the platform can be heard saying in Spanish, “I’m sorry, but this had to happen so that they stop doing this.”

The rents are too damn higher by train stations

 

Queens Post 

 The rental market has bounced back—with apartments located within a half mile of a subway station coming back with vigor.

The real estate firm RentHop released a report earlier this week that found that the median rent paid for a 1-bedroom apartment has jumped significantly for those located near subway stations.

The report, which focused solely on 1-bedroom apartments, revealed that the jump was particularly noticeable by major station hubs and near stations where there has been an increase in luxury housing development.

For instance, the median rent paid for a 1-bedroom unit by the Queensboro Plaza station during the first quarter (Jan. 1—March 31) was $3,390, up 28 percent from the first quarter of 2021. The median rent paid for a 1-bedroom unit near the 36^th Street station (E-M-R) during the first quarter was $2,658, up 29 percent from first quarter 2021.

The proximity of the stations to two new developments played a role in driving up prices, according to the report. The stations are near Sven, a 71-story tower located at 29-59 Northern Blvd, and Rise LIC, a 10-story building at 29-17 40th Ave.

The report noted that across the city rents have “skyrocketed at major subway stops,” with pandemic concessions vanishing and gross rents soaring. For instance, at the 72^nd Street in Manhattan the median rent paid for a one-bedroom is up 30 percent year-over-year, to $3,495 during the first quarter.

“When the pandemic first hit New York City, residents fled in droves,” the report says. “Two years into the pandemic, many have returned to the city [and] rental prices have recovered well beyond the pre-pandemic levels.”

RentHop released data showing the median amount paid for a 1 bedroom at each station, as well as the increase.

 

 

Man shoots 10 commuters on a subway train during rush hour in Sunest Park

OMNY sucks

 

 Queens Chronicle

Installation of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new tap-and-go payment system, OMNY, is running more than a year late, the Gothamist news outlet reported Monday.

The system is 15 months behind schedule, Gothamist said. It quoted Amy Linden, the acting lead for MTA Fare Payment Programs, as saying, “Substantial completion for the project has slipped.”

Linden made her comments during a committee meeting that day, saying that despite the delays, a quarter of subway and bus riders now pay with OMNY, which stands for One Metro New York.

The system, which is set to replace the MetroCard, was supposed to have been rolled out entirely by 2023. Now, however, the final design for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North part of the project is not expected to be done until the end of that year or early 2024, according to Gothamist.

The article also said the cost of the entire project to convert all MTA trains and buses to OMNY will be at least $772 million, with some changes still being negotiated. The initial contract was for $573 million.

The Blaz admits he was wrong about how unsafe the subway has become, sends more cops to the rails.

 

NY Daily News 

The city will deploy 250 extra police officers to the subways, bringing the number of cops patrolling the system to the highest level in the NYPD Transit Bureau’s 26-year history, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.

With the new increase, the mayor said there’ll be about 3,250 NYPD transit cops. That figure also includes desk cops or supervisors who aren’t in the field, an NYPD spokesman noted.

The 250 additional cops won’t work full eight-hour shifts on subway patrol. They’ll walk the system for a couple hours during the morning and evening rush, earning overtime on top of their regular shifts in some cases, the police spokesman said.

The expansion comes as 24/7 subway service resumed Monday for the first time since May 6, 2020, when Gov. Cuomo ordered the system closed to passengers overnight to remove homeless riders. Its announcement also follows a series of violent incidents, including a Friday rampage in which five straphangers were assaulted during a horrifying stabbing spree.

“Anyone who commits an offense on the subways will be found, will be prosecuted, will be held accountable,” de Blasio said at a press conference, adding: “We’re going to take officers and put them in right places in the subways at the right time, particularly at peak times of ridership.”

Brooklyn woman sick of de Blasio's denials about subway crime

The aunt of subway Conductor Gerard Sykes who was brutally slashed on the J train last night has a message for @NYCMayor — Do something! Put more police in the subway, Casandra Sykes pleads. @CentralLaborNYC @NYPDTransit @NYCPBA @NYSAFLCIO @SecretaryPete #EssentialWorkers pic.twitter.com/wSJwdolQwZ

— TWU Local 100 (@TWULocal100) May 6, 2021

Maybe more painting and dancing on the subway might help... 

The Blaz's recovery for all of us is being trumped by the new bad days.