NEXT STOP: 24/7
All-night subway service to return as city on track for full reopening
The city that never sleeps is getting back the subway that never stops.
Around-the-clock subway service will return to New York City on May 17, Gov. Cuomo announced Monday. The restoration comes just over a year after the governor ordered the system shuttered overnight for COVID cleaning and to kick homeless riders out of stations.
It also coincides with the end of Cuomo’s pandemic curfew for Big Apple bars and restaurants.
“The MTA will resume their 24hour service on May 17 to coordinate with the economic and social activity increase,” Cuomo said during a briefing at his Manhattan office. “We made significant gains with the MTA during this period of time. Subway trains have never been cleaner than they are now.”
The change comes as vaccination rates climb and COVID cases plummet, prompting the governor to also announce the lifting of capacity limits for most businesses beginning May 19.
Restaurants, museums, theaters, retail stores and other businesses will be allowed to reopen at full capacity in just over two weeks in the Empire State as well as neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut.
“It’s a measured reopening. It’s a phased reopening. But we are at a point now where we are going to take a major step forward in reopening ... and it is coordinated regionally, which is smart,” Cuomo said.
Just last week, Cuomo announced that city restaurants will be able to expand to 75% capacity beginning Friday.
As previously announced, bars and restaurants will see the current midnight curfew lifted for outdoor dining on May 17 and closing time can go back to 4 a.m. for indoor service at the end of the month.
The overnight subway closures began on May 6 last year, stretching from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. MTA officials in February scaled them back, changing the shutdown hours to 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Cuomo and transit honchos faced intense pressure in recent weeks from politicians and advocates to reopen the system overnight. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said 24-hour service should be restored as soon as possible. Mayor de Blasio last week urged the MTA to bring it back by July 1.
The way the MTA has managed subway service during the shutdown suggests it won’t be a heavy lift to restore overnight service come May 17.
The agency has run normal, prepandemic subway schedules overnight throughout the past year — but only cops and transit workers have been permitted to board trains while the stations are closed to the public. MTA subway crews said reopening overnight is relatively simple, noting the biggest change will be allowing
passengers to board again between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.
A bigger barrier to reopening is a workforce shortage at the MTA. The agency has quietly cut more than 4,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic, leaving too few crews to run full bus and subway schedules.
Subway ridership has begun to slowly rebound in recent months as COVID-19 vaccinations have ticked up.
Weekday ridership is still down roughly 65% from before the pandemic, with turnstiles clocking just over 2 million entries last week compared with more than 5.5 million in 2019. That’s up from a dip of more than 75% the MTA saw during most of 2020.
An MTA survey published last month found 36% of riders who relied on the subway before the pandemic said they “are not using transit because of crime and harassment.”
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg has since last year repeatedly called for a surge of cops into the system to crack down on criminals to make straphangers feel safer as they return. Both de Blasio and NYPD brass in recent weeks said there are already enough subway cops — and accused Feinberg and other MTA honchos for fearmongering.
Officials from Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents roughly half of the MTA’s workforce, have also raised concerns about crime — and said Monday the city must do more to keep transit workers safe from emotionally disturbed riders, many of whom are homeless.
“Restoring 24-hour subway service is a great idea, but the city has to add more mental health services, homeless outreach and uniformed police officers to the system,” said Local 100 President Tony Utano. “Too many transit workers and riders are being harassed and assaulted right now with the current hours of operation.”
Cuomo said it’s up to NYPD cops to connect homeless riders in the subway to social services — a task the department abandoned last year amid cuts to its budget. Workers from the city’s Department of Homeless Services have throughout the pandemic reached out to homeless riders in the subway, primarily at end-of-line stations.
“We can’t turn the subway system back into a mobile-running homeless system,” said Cuomo. “Have you been on the subway? Because I have and I was scared ... I’m not telling my child to ride the subway, because I’m afraid for my child.”