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The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association says that police staffing had dropped 18% in recent years in the area where the Van Alst-21st Street G line stop is located, as the PBA tries to make the case that the subway platform rape could have been avoided. Police presence for the particular Long Island City transit district that serves this stop, plus its backup district, dropped from a total of 404 to 330 police officers on the beat. The issue of subway safety and police presence in the subways becomes a bigger issue as the L train will lose conductors on night and weekend rides, leaving only the engineer, in the coming weeks. The party line from NYC Transit, the division of the MTA that oversees subways and buses, is that customer safety is a primary focus for them. As Gothamist boarded a D train at Columbus Circle last night, the train car was completely empty except for a kind of crazy looking person - three mile stare and the whole nine yards... so when we hear about things like a fine for walking between subway cars or even locking subway cars, we get worried.
You can contact the police if you have questions, comments or complaints about safety and security in the subways.
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An open letter to the MTA:
Can you folks get anything right? Ok ok, thanks for fixing the A/C line so quicky, but what's up with the following:
1. The F. It's always packed and rarely runs. Coincidence? Think "express service". I think every F rider would like a diamond F. At least in Brooklyn.
2. The V. At least run it to Jay Street in Brooklyn. Please. Or run more Fs.
3. The 7. It's down so much it's comedic.
4. The increased fare. More money equals less employees. What, you got Bush's economic team working for you?
5. The G. Oh, where do I start with this one. I'll let the next poster do that!
Oh the G.
But seriously, the locked car doors is a terrible idea. If the G train didn't have locked doors, that woman would have been able to make her way up to the front of the train and alert the subway motorman instead of running onto the platform at 21st street.
Not saying the MTA is perfect, but as it is they are starved for money. People want it all; police in every station, frequent trains, new technology, but they don't want to pay a higher fare or deal with the inconvenience of upgrading the system and the state won't give them the money they need. I sure would hate to be the manager.
max, that would definitely be true, were the MTA not guilty of all manner of book-cooking, kickbackisms and the other assorted malfesances that government monopolies get away with.
fuck em and feed em fish, says i.
ever hear of any public transportation in the US free from all of that listed above by dhex?
Yeah, cops on the beat sounds like a good start. No point leaving them in the silly police booths. Still no sign from the MTA, transit union or politicians about changing their flawed policy of token clerks staying locked in their booths gawking when people are being assaulted.
dhex, that is certainly true to an extent and cities around the world are not entirely sure how to handle the "problem" of public transit.
The London Underground for instance underwent privitization but the system continues to be rather unreliable and also costs nearly $4 a pop for a zone-1 ride.
The MTA is partly corrupt, but it is not entirely evil; the subway in NYC today is actually quite good especially considering the condition it was left in after the 70s and 80s. And regardless of the corruption, without a good functioning transit system NYC and hence NY's economy would likely collapse...
But for all that people moan about corruption in the MTA, who is cracking down on it? The state complains that they want too much money, but they haven't held the MTA execs accountable for diddly-squat. Don't just starve the agency and punish the riders as a result, this will help nothing; fix the agency while gauranteeing appropriate funding.
Re: the stare - I would prefer the stare into the distance rather than the stare at me. just a thought.
As for the "ridiculous" policy of keeping station agents inside the booths... the only thing that is ridiculous is expecting people who have been trained in making change and cleaning turnstiles to play "police officer" and protect people against violent and possibly armed attackers.
sorry, you make some good points, but the trains ran better and cost less during the 80's and the early 90's.
i think that i saw Gothamist at Columbus Circle last night. i was not the scary man, but i do so have a crush on Gothamist. :)
max - consider that the same attacker had a previous victim on the track and was pushing her head toward the third rail. A subway cleaner came by and said 'what the hell are you doing' and the attacker scampered away. That's all it took. There was no fancy police work involved. Doesn't take much training to step out of the booth and ask what the hell he is doing. Under your logic if you came upon an attack you should silently run away and lock yourself in a booth.
Subways better in the 80s? Umm... ok....
Personally I wouldn't sit and watch an attack happen. But I'm on the fence about the policy. In some ways, I think that the booth person should have the option of whether to get involved or not (obviously required to call for help). But the policy shouldn't ask them to put themselves in harm's way either -- that's not their job. I just don't think that saying "what the hell are you doing" is the key to fending off most violent crimes and rapes. It might scare some people away, but I imagine others would lash out at the person trying to interfere.
And why didn't the station cleaner report this and why wasn't this man found before he had the opportunity to strike again?
"The MTA is partly corrupt, but it is not entirely evil"
it's not that they're corrupt, much less "evil." they're doing what a bureaucracy will do, given enough time. of course they spend money on town cars for their executives, and of course they hide funding in new office buildings, etc. and of course they'll never have enough money. it's what they do.
it's like getting mad at a snake for biting you.