In another win for the forces of decay dragging at New York City: Vagrants, scofflaws and thuggish teens are already plaguing the MTA’s new, futuristic subway cars.
As The Post’s Matthew Sedacca reports, a walkthrough Tuesday found “three homeless men and a junkie” in “varying states of consciousness across four of the 10 swanky cars” of the $27 million train. “One man was zonked out and muttering to himself, and others stretched out on benches to nap during rush hour.”
It seems the homeless prefer the new cars because they’re better-heated than older models.
Too bad that can leave the trains reeking. “It still smells bad, and there’s still somebody laying down on the seat,” one passenger commented. “I was definitely hoping for better.”
Also seen: “a group of teens in the gap between two cars, hanging their arms underneath the moving train to record the sound of the wheels.”
The Post also saw smoking (tobacco and pot), beer drinking and other illegal-in-the-subways behavior.
Earlier in the week, the new train made the news when another pack of teens pulled an autistic boy, 15, off a car and pummeled him on the platform, shouting racial epithets.
“You can have the greatest piece of equipment in the subway, but if you don’t have the level of security to guard passengers, then what’s the purpose?” asked Charlton D’souza of the transit advocacy group Passengers United.
Mind you, the NYPD (with funding assistance from Gov. Kathy Hochul) has managed to bring subway disorder way down in recent months by paying overtime for a beefed-up police presence underground.
But OT is only sustainable for so long; cops need to sleep and lead personal lives. Plus, the force is facing record levels of departures.
And, as Nicole Gelinas notes, subway crime still isn’t back to 2019 levels, and likely won’t get there unless the Legislature finally agrees to serious fixes to its hapless criminal-justice “reforms.”
New Yorkers elected Mayor Eric Adams to get crime and disorder down below and above ground, and he’s trying. (As is MTA management: The new trains have lots of cameras and other features that should boost security.)
But the forces of disorder still have a host of supporters in Albany, the City Council and in District Attorney Offices. It sure seems the voters need to do a lot more “electing” to get the change they want.
Until the politicians get the message, as Sedacca notes, “we can’t have nice things.”