Just How Dangerous Is New York City's Subway, Really?

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If you perceive to Republicans and particularly Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, if you situation moreover measurement ft on New York City's subway, you will instantly beryllium brutally murdered by roving gangs of bum forbidden alien thugs who besides person instrumentality guns and scary tattoos. Still, millions of New Yorkers thrust nan subway daily. But conscionable really vulnerable is New York's subway, really? Bloomberg precocious dug into nan numbers to find out, and while immoderate crime does hap connected nan subway, it yet came to nan conclusion that taking nan subway is safer than driving your car.

Per the New York City Police Department's latest crime report, awesome felonies connected nan subway are down 3.9% this twelvemonth and down 7.3% since 2019, nan past afloat twelvemonth earlier nan COVID-19 pandemic threw everything into chaos. That said, felony assaults are up 18% compared to nan aforesaid play successful 2024 and 66% higher than they were successful 2019. If you set for ridership, nan awesome felony complaint is 13% higher than it was successful 2019 but has been falling each twelvemonth since 2021, while the felony battle complaint appears to beryllium an outlier and is up this year, now sitting at 128% what it was backmost successful 2019.

Since nan precocious 1990s, expansive larceny, aliases thefts of items worthy astatine slightest $1,000, has typically made up astir of nan awesome crimes connected New York's subway. Grand larceny rates person besides been falling since 2022, and done nan first half of nan year, they're presently astatine their lowest level since 2010. Robbery rates are besides trending down and fundamentally astatine pre-pandemic levels. 

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So while crimes do hap connected nan subway, and nan pandemic led to important increases, it's besides disingenuous to declare nan subway is much vulnerable than ever. It's besides notable that Duffy is trying to blasted Governor Hochul and nan MTA alternatively of nan NYPD, arsenic Bloomberg points out:

That said, Duffy's concerns look to beryllium mostly grandstanding. He isn't offering Transportation Department assistance to combat nan problem. Instead, he's been making threatening gestures successful nan guidance of nan MTA, which is controlled by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, erstwhile it is nan NYPD that's chiefly responsible for nationalist information connected nan subway. Not wholly coincidentally, nan constabulary section reports to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been connected friends position pinch nan Trump management since nan Justice Department dropped corruption charges against him early successful Trump's 2nd term.

Additionally, Duffy's attraction connected subway crime comes arsenic portion of his crusade against the city's incredibly successful congestion-relief pricing. His extremity doesn't look to beryllium to make riding nan subway safer but alternatively to get much New Yorkers backmost successful their cars, wherever they will summation traffic, slow down buses and termination much people. And erstwhile you look astatine nan numbers, it's clear that driving is already acold much vulnerable than taking nan subway.

When you look astatine deaths per 100,000 population, "the consequence for personification who rode nan subway 500 times successful 2024 is 0.4 successful 100,000." Deaths from car crashes successful New York City, however, were 3.9 per 100,000, much than 9 times higher than taking nan subway. Meanwhile, deaths from car crashes successful Sawyer County, Wisconsin, wherever Duffy grew up, were 15.4 per 100,000. And yet, you don't spot Duffy connected TV ranting astir really vulnerable his location region is. 

In fact, it's almost capable to person you that Duffy isn't really concerned astir information and may, perhaps, beryllium a governmental hack pushing a far-right agenda. As the Bloomberg article reminds us, "Cars are deadly, and immoderate proscription argumentation that encourages their usage complete nationalist proscription is beautiful overmuch by meaning anti-safety."