Riding 'em out on a rail
Rules to oust vagrants
MTA board members voted unanimously Wednesday to formalize emergency rules enacted in April that make it easier for cops to remove homeless people from the subways.
The new rules include a ban on “any wheeled cart greater than 30 inches in either length or width” and a requirement that riders spend no more than one hour inside a particular station.
Transit officials instituted the changes in April — just as worker and straphanger complaints about vagrants living on the rails soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the restrictions on the shopping carts and loitering, the new rules also explicitly ban pooping or vaping on trains or platforms.
Speaking to board members on Wednesday, MTA general counsel Thomas Quigley said the rules “are designed to improve the safety and cleanliness throughout the system.”
“This is especially important as we strive to keep the trains, buses, stations and terminal clean and sanitary throughout the pandemic,” Quigley said.
The rule change was posted in the state register in May and received no public comments, Quigley said.
Several of the rules carry civil penalties. Riders caught defecating in the MTA system could be slapped with a $100 fine, while those busted vaping could face a $50 fine under the MTA’s smoking ban.
Transit leaders insisted the goal was not to “criminalize” homeless people but to protect the public from the coronavirus, which has killed 131 transit workers.
“Having people stay in one place, stay in one facility, without leaving for hours on end, increases the chances that you are moving [the] virus around,” NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg said at a postmeeting press conference.
“We believed we needed to take steps to make sure people were entering the system, using the system and exiting the system.”
Transit workers have long complained of disgusting conditions on trains. Transport Workers Union Local 100 launched a “Trash Train” photo contest last October to highlight the filth and protest cuts to cleaning crews.
MTA Chairman and CEO Pat Foye stressed that treatment and care of the homeless is the responsibility of other local government agencies.
“It’s incumbent upon the city of New York and the Department of Homeless Services to provide medical and mental health to the unsheltered,” Foye said.