Unprovoked attacks in subway are front and center in NYC mayor's race [View all]

A rise in unprovoked attacks on subway riders since the COVID-19 pandemic has made concerns over public safety on mass transit a central — if not unavoidable — issue in New York City's mayoral race.

Candidates in the race are by and large drawing a direct line to subway crime with the city’s stubbornly high homeless population who seek shelter in trains and stations. But the City Hall hopefuls vary on how to manage the crisis, with some calling to flood the system with police and others promising a historically large deployment of mental health professionals.

Subway safety is proving to be a key concern for New Yorkers this year. An Emerson College poll in March estimated 48% of registered city voters thought the subways were becoming less safe, compared to 32% who thought they were becoming safer. The topic has also drawn the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who on Friday took a brief subway ride with Mayor Eric Adams after threatening to withhold federal funding from the MTA unless officials submit a plan to address transit crime (the agency complied).

The NYPD reported 10 murders in the subway system in 2024, tying a record set in 2022 for the most in a calendar year since the department took control of transit policing in the mid-1990s. The subways saw 579 felony assaults last year, which also set a record. The city has over the last five years seen a string of straphangers randomly shoved onto subway tracks by people suffering with a mental illness. In January, a 23-year-old woman survived being pushed off a platform and in front of an A train in Washington Heights by a man who was later deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.






https://gothamist.com/news/unprovoked-attacks-in-subway-are-front-and-center-in-nyc-mayors-race