Urban Policy Project

Mandeep Singh

12 December 2019

Urban Policy Project - Part 2

The New York City subway system is responsible for safely transporting people across one of the busiest cities in the world. However, the system is more notoriously known for the attributes that it lacks. Because of the extremely unsanitary conditions and lack of proper safety precautions, millions of people are being exposed to conditions that would not otherwise be present if the city had proper control of the situation. Furthermore, millions of people complain daily due to train delays and lack of proper means of transportation during the busiest hours of the day. Further, outdated technology has put New York City trailing behind other majority cities in terms of proper technological advancements regarding public transportation. The New York City transportation system is always known to be extremely unsafe, especially for those traveling during very late hours.

New York City subways are extremely unsanitary and therefore creates unsafe conditions for passengers, especially children and babies that may be exposed to toxic conditions. Dan Rivoli of The Daily News reports that trains where there are accidents such as a sick passenger vomiting on the subway are not taken out of service but passengers are merely warned passengers. This is a health code violation and put millions at risk of contracting different illnesses. Further, New York City transit workers rarely send trains back to the loading yard where there may be properly cleaned. As someone that commutes via New York City subways often, the most I have seen it get cleaned is a quick walk-through by sanitation workers. During this walk-through, the area is quickly scanned for any visible garbage or obstruction to commuters. If none is present, there is no cleaning done. I believe that all carts should be deeply disinfected at the end and beginning of every ride.

While thorough cleaning may not be possible to do during a busy commute, I think that taking preventative measures to prevent carts from getting to a point that is dangerous to the general public is important. Implementing more garbage cans throughout the platform is a good way to beginning reducing the waste on trains. Another thing that can be done is increasing the amount of sanitation workers. I noticed during my commute that it is the same people that conduct the train that often walk through the carts to make sure everything is in order. I think that it would be better to designate employees at the first and last stop of every train station to walk through the carts and clean everything before it gets sent out for another route.

A big issue that contributes to the lack of cleanliness on trains are the number of homeless people that live in the stations and the train carts. While the issue of homelessness in New York City is extremely severe, I do not think that having the homeless living in the train stations is a viable option. Proper attention should be given to the homeless in New York City so that there are less people struggling for shelter in train stations. This is not a sustainable option for people to live nor should anyone have to resort to living in train carts or within the stations. New York is known for having extremely severe weather and the trains are not going to provide the shelter that the homeless need.

New York subways have also lacked in preparedness when it comes to severe weather situations. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the subway systems were extremely unprepared. The sea level rose far above the tide line, and floodwaters reached nearly 8 feet in parts of the Jersey Shore and 6.5 feet around New York City (Woodward, 2019). When this happened, the subway systems were forced to completely shut down because there were no longer operable. Some stations are built so underground that they flooded all the way up the stairs to the main entrance. It is apparent that the system is not able to withstand the severe conditions that New York City may be expected to endure in the future.

Millions of people rely on the subway systems to be their main means of transportation. Because of this, simply closing stations due to weather conditions is not a viable option. There are thousands of people living in the city area that cannot afford to take a taxi or Uber places and need public transportation. By forcing people to do this is not a fair option and New York should be doing better to accommodate all of its citizens. By closing a main subway station because of extreme weather, New York is saying that they do not care about the people that rely on those trains to get back home to their families.

New York needs to fix the issues that the subway systems face when the weather gets harsh. One of the ways that they can do this is by looking at the subway systems in other countries that have been built to withstand bad weather. There are a number of extremely successful train stations built throughout Europe that operate very smoothly and efficiently. I think that New York should turn to those countries and its engineers and either commission work from them or ask them for a simple consultation. While I do believe that there are people in America that can help us with this issue, I feel that citizens would be more comforted knowing that New York truly cares about its people by consulting others that have been known to be successful in this department.

The New York City subway system is extremely unsafe. There are a number of casualties that happen every year because of subway track related death. Whether people accidently fall into the tracks, commit suicide, or try to jump in to retrieve an object they dropped, the subway system should not be a means for so many people to pass away. One way to combat this issue is to install platform screen doors. Platform screen doors (PSDs) and platform edge doors (PEDs) are at train or subway stations screen the platform from the train. They are a new addition to many metro systems around the world but are widely used in Asian and European metro systems (Railsystem, 2015). By using city budget to install these, New York City has the potential of saving hundred thousands of lives in the future.

One of the biggest issue that regular commuters deal with are train delays. Sometimes, trains can be delayed for over an hour during rush hour. I asked my friend about this who commutes by NYC public transportation daily. She told me about a time that she got out of work at 5 PM and arrived to her train at 5:10 PM. The monitor said that there would be an F train arriving within five minutes. However, after an hour of waiting, there was still no train, the monitor had not been updated and the thousands of people waiting in the station had no idea what to expect. This happened at the stop 47-50 Rockefeller Center. This is one of the most popular train stations in the midtown area for people that work in the area. This also happened during Christmas time so there were also thousands of tourists in the area to city the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. This was extremely frustrating for her because she had to wait for the train for an hour and the station was extremely packed. By the time the train came, people were fighting to get on. It came to a point that the automatic doors were closing on people’s arms and legs. This is extremely unsafe and should not be a station that people are forced to be in as New York City has no other means of public transportation from Manhattan to Queens.

One of the ways that I feel the issue of train delays could be avoided is by having more trains operate during rush hour. While this may sound like a simple solution, there are many things that go into this idea. The trains are all on a systematic schedule. Adding in new trains would require redesigning the entire schedule. Further, it would require hiring more staff, conductors and sanitation personnel. While I do not think that the city would do this for those reasons, I think that it would be a good idea to consider. More and more people are commuting to the city every year. Increasing the number of subway carts operating, especially during rush hour, seems like a smart option for the subway system.

Another issue is lack of proper security in subway stations. I know of many stories where people are commuting late at night and they do not know if they are safe or not. Because subway stations tend to be very empty at late hours, especially during weekdays when there are not a lot of people out late at night, commuters may be left in very dangerous situations. This issue is beginning to be fixed by increased NYPD in subway stations. While I think this is a good idea, I think there should be designated subway patrol. I think that the NYPD should be out and patrolling rather than monitoring subway systems. If there are trained security, it would be much safer for everyone.

While some popular stations have security designated for those stations that operate 24/7, I do not think it is fair that this is only a commodity available at popular stations. People commute everywhere and just because your route is not considered a popular station does not mean that you should be in an unsafe situation. Just recently, a subway rider was shot and killed in Queens at a No. 7 train station. The incident happened at the 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue station platform (CBS, 2019). If there were more security at this station, this man’s life may have been saved.

It is evident that New York City’s subway system has a lot of areas that it can be improved. Whether it is improving the sanitation issue and making subways cleaner or improving subway security and making commuting safer, there is a lot to be improved. Further, I think that the city needs to put more budget into these issues. The subway system is a big reflection of the city and I think that improving the system would only improve its reputation. With millions of people living in and traveling to NYC, it is only fair that we start by improving our subway systems.

References:

CBS. (2019, February 3). Police: Man Shot And Killed On Queens Subway Platform. Retrieved from https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/02/03/man-shot-killed-queens-subway/.

Platform Screen Doors (PSD). (2015). Retrieved from http://www.railsystem.net/platform-screen-doors-psd/.

Rivoli, D. (2019, February 18). NYC's subway is a mess: pukey trains, unwitting passengers, crews in the thick of it. Retrieved from https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-dirty-subway-cars-mta-20190212-story.html.

Woodward, A. (2019, November 22). The MTA flooded a subway stop on purpose because 'climate change is real.' Here's how it's prepping New York for the next Superstorm Sandy. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/mta-floods-new-york-subway-test-barrier-climate-change-2019-11.