Recent subway attacks across the five boroughs have been leaving New Yorkers with heightened concerns about how safe it is to use public transit. This raises an important question for all of New York City: how serious is this threat, and how concerned should we be?
On December 22, 2024, 57-year-old Debrina Kawam was sleeping in the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn when she was set ablaze by Sebastian Zapata, who sat on a bench on the platform, watching as Kawam was fatally burned. Less than ten days later on New Years Eve, 45 year old Joseph Lynskey was pushed onto the train tracks of the 18th Street subway station in Manhattan. He miraculously survived, although he suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, and ruptured spleen. The day after, New Year’s Day, two unrelated stabbings occurred just 15 minutes apart, one in Downtown Manhattan at 14th Street and 7th Avenue subway station, and the other Uptown in Cathedral Parkway–110th Street’s subway station. An article by the New York Times published on February 5th reported a “particularly violent [past week] for the subway system, with 11 felony assaults reported, compared to just six during the same stretch in 2024.”
To combat these recent attacks, Governor Kathy Hochul deployed a 77 million dollar strategy, which started on January 20th, that will put police officers on every overnight train. Hochul has also backed a bill that will help involuntarily hospitalize more locals that are struggling with mental health in hope of decreasing the subway crime rate. However, New Yorkers still believe the recent subway attacks are being overlooked by NYC officials. Passenger Anothony Rodriguez told ABC7, “They want to hike fares up, and they want to do certain things, but they can’t even keep the people of New York City protected…You know what I’m saying? It’s kind of sad.”
But has it actually become more dangerous to ride the subway? The narrative that the subway system is unsafe has become amplified, furthering the perspective that transit crime is common. According to the New York Times, transit crime in January dropped by 36% from the previous year, with 231 fewer reported crimes, even as the number of riders in the New York City transit system increased. NYC Mayor Eric Adams believes a factor in the declining number of subway crimes is the presence of the New York Police Department in stations. However, many New Yorkers are feeling unconfident about their safety on public transportation due to this recent surge in attacks. In a briefing on citywide crime statistics on January 6th, Jessica Tisch, the New York City Police Commissioner, said “the subways will always be a bellwether for the perception of public safety in New York City,” and while “declining crime numbers are significant…we must still do more because people don’t feel safe in our subways.” Mayor Adams added that “It is clear [that] perception always overrides reality.”
The persistent presence of individuals who appear to be struggling with mental illness, combined with the overall sense of disarray in the subway, can make riders feel unsafe. While the actual risk of being attacked on the subway remains low, New Yorkers are often exposed to stories of subway incidents, especially as media and political attention continues to grow. This increasing attention heightens the feelings of insecurity and anxiety while riding the train, even if the danger itself is relatively rare. Subway safety is a political priority in New York City because the subways are an essential part of the city, and unsafe subways can harm the city’s people and reputation. The discussion about subway safety has become increasingly important topic for NYC politicians to address, which could be explained by many New Yorkers avoiding public transit during the pandemic. The non-profit organization Vital City notes that many New Yorkers are “reassessing what it means to go back underground and share close quarters with strangers” after the pandemic, and that “it’s possible that some New Yorkers have grown more fearful in the interluding years, having forgotten what it’s like to live amidst the persistent need for social cooperation.”
Since 2019, the crime rate in New York City transit has significantly risen, according to Vital City; however, the narrative that the subway system is dangerous has been amplified over the reported facts of subway safety. If New Yorkers promoted a safer perception of our subway system, the fear of danger could potentially be dissolved.
