Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death on Saturday afternoon inside a train station in Harlem, officials said, adding to a wave of high-profile attacks in the New York City subway system that has rattled riders in recent months.
The police were called to the 137th Street-City College station at about 3 p.m. and when officers arrived, they found the teenager on the northbound platform of the No. 1 line with a stab wound to his abdomen.
He was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the police said.
The New York Times revealed that Police officials did not identify the victim and said no one had been charged. The police said they believed the boy and his attacker knew each other, though they did not know a motive.
The killing came after a series of violent episodes in the city’s mass transit system, including the random and unprovoked fatal shooting of a Goldman Sachs employee on his way to brunch in May, a mass shooting on a train that injured at least 23 people in Brooklyn the month before and the fatal shoving of a woman at the Times Square station in January.
Those episodes have subway riders worried about their safety at a fraught moment for the transit system. The attacks have also presented a major political problem for Mayor Eric Adams, who vowed during his campaign to make the city safer.
In surveys, transit riders and employers have said subway safety is a top concern. About 74 per cent of commuters said they felt less safe using public transit now than they did before the pandemic, according to a March survey by the Partnership for New York City, an influential business group.
In addition to those concerns, many riders still fear the spread of the coronavirus. About 79 per cent of subway riders who had not returned to trains said social distancing was one of the top factors keeping them away, according to a customer survey conducted in the fall.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, facing a potential crisis after huge revenue losses during the pandemic, desperately needs riders to return to its system. An infusion of state and federal money during the pandemic helped the agency stave off a deficit that is expected to reach $2 billion in 2026.
But its largest funding source is money collected from passengers. Once government pandemic aid runs out, transit officials could face pressure to raise fares or cut service. Subway leaders worry about setting off a “transit death spiral,” where cuts to service make transit a less convenient option for the public, prompting further drops in ridership.
