DANGEROUS 'SURF'
Soaring rise in youth riding atop subways
New York City is seeing a dangerous rise in young people attempting to ride on the tops and
backs of trains — and officials say social media is partly to blame for the “subway surfing” wave.
The number of incidents involving so-called subway surfers increased by 560% from January to May of this year compared with the same period in 2021, according to MTA statistics.
Speaking to MTA board members on Monday, NYPD Transit Chief Jason Wilcox attributed the dramatic surge in reckless behavior, “somewhat,” to social media.
“We have seen recent incidents of persons, mostly very young, riding on the top of or on the back of train cars. This is incredibly dangerous,” Wilcox said. “There [is] nothing fun or funny about this type of activity, and we will continue to work towards deterring it.”
MTA number-crunchers recorded 449 subway surfing incidents between January and May of this year. The same period last year saw 68 incidents, with 97 in 2020, officials said.
The reckless behavior reached a tipping point in recent weeks, after a 15-year-old “surfer” was left in critical condition when he hit his head while riding on top of a northbound No. 7 train in the 111th
Street station in Queens June 23.
The boy’s distraught aunt told The Post her nephew was just doing “what kids do.”
The teen was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and underwent two surgeries Friday because of his injuries, his aunt said.
“He is not the first young person to be doing this in our system. In fact, we have hundreds of incidents in which this has occurred in the last few months.” NYC Transit President Richard Davey said during Monday’s meeting.
“I would implore anyone who is watching this, to tell your friends, to tell your kids: Do not do this,” he continued. “Please, please, please, do something else with your time.”
“You’re not only going to potentially injure yourself as this poor young man did, you are delaying trains and you’re putting yourself in harm’s way.”