COMING UP EMPTY
Desperate city gets only more promises from Trump as Congress fails on $1T aid package
The way New York City moves has fundamentally changed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ridership on the city’s public transit systems hit historic lows last week. The subway clocked roughly 1.4 million rides Thursday, down from about 5.4 million on a comparable day in March 2019, according to data released by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Bus ridership was down 61%, or by about a million rides from last year, the data show.
The dismal numbers are the lowest the city’s subways and buses have recorded in more than a century, outside major crises like 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy in 2012. They suggest the vast majority of New Yorkers are heeding orders by Gov. Cuomo and other elected officials for all nonessential workers to stay at home.
The threat of the deadly outbreak has made riding the subway a solemn experience.
At Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn station on Saturday, a handful of riders spread out across the Queens-bound platform. Most were wearing masks or handkerchiefs across their faces. “This feels like church,” remarked one rider.
But as the virus continues to take the lives of New Yorkers — 99 as of Sunday evening — the subway feels more like a wake than a Sunday Mass.
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg officially started her job March 9, the same day the MTA directed riders to avoid the subway if possible.
“So much has changed in the last two weeks. Being president of NYC Transit is a completely different job than it has ever been,” said Feinberg. “I’ve ridden the system every weekday. It feels very different than it ever has, but there’s absolutely camaraderie.”
There might be more fellowship among straphangers who try to make the most out of a new socially distant world, but some of the city’s most desperate people still use the subway as a place to ask for help.
“Throw it on the floor,” a panhandler cried at Brooklyn’s Myrtle-Willoughby station on the G line Sunday. “I just need $2. Throw it on the ground. I won’t come close to you.”
Homeless beggars are far from the only New Yorkers in need of money. MTA officials have also stuck their hands out for help.
MTA Chairman Patrick Foye on Tuesday sent a letter to members of Congress requesting $4 billion in relief for the agency, which has since borrowed $1 billion to continue to pay staff to run service.
On Sunday, more than 20 in Congress joined Foye’s call to bail out transit agencies. Angelo Roefaro, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said the senator is “confident” relief for the MTA will be included in the next federal coronavirus relief package, expected to be passed by Congress this week.
The package would help keep trains and buses running for health care professionals, first responders and other workers deemed “essential” by the governor.
Cuomo has said the crisis could drag on for months, which means New Yorkers should get used to avoiding the subways and buses whenever possible.