It comes as no surprise that New York City’s subway system has served as a crucial hub for transportation. Across all five boroughs, the subway guarantees millions of people their destination every year. But in light of recent reports, it seems like this train in the city of dreams has taken a course of destruction.
The concentration of illness and crime rates stemming from the subway is on an upward trend. More specifically, cases of norovirus are increasing at alarming rates. The highly contagious virus causes vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and an array of other ghastly symptoms that would most likely ruin your next meal. Aside from ruining your trip to Broadway, this illness is known for being spread, meaning the subway harbors a perfect breeding ground. This prompts the question: What is being done to combat this?
In short, not a lot. Large issues require even larger solutions, and more importantly a large budget. Officials are more willing to push congestion costs to profit from keeping people out of the city rather than push cleanliness initiatives to protect the people who are already in it. The subway is the city’s circulatory system, shuttling people through the heart of the greatest city on earth. Yet the system has been plagued by disease, and when the system fails, so does the heart. Policies in the past have attempted to combat the cleanliness problem, but in a world that demands rapid results, most have lost funding due to lack of desired conclusions. To this, I say it is important to recall one of the most life altering events of this decade: the COVID-19 Pandemic. Despite the hardships faced, we were forced to adapt and learn, and I’m not talking about how to make bread or stockpile toilet paper. With the pandemic, protocols and initiatives were assimilated into daily life.
On Sept. 15, 2020, then-mayor Bill de Blasio pushed a cleanliness initiative that included the restart of CleanNYC, which provided supplemental cleaning services in parks and neighborhoods in response to the rise in COVID-19 cases. Due to the positive effect of this initiative, we now have a much better understanding of how to properly go about containment and management of illnesses. This same understanding can be applied to sanitation efforts in the subway. If there were proper initiatives, supported with a proper budget, the safety of commuters could be guaranteed. Like COVID-19, these protocols need support and funding to work effectively and efficiently. Change starts when the people, when you, put support behind resolving these issues. Educating yourself, contacting local government offices and signing petitions in favor of cleaning up New York’s subway system are the first steps in rehabilitating this essential form of transportation.
If the lack of cleanliness is a plague to the system, then crime is like a knife, severing the peace of mind of commuters. It seems that every day, there’s a new report of an innocent citizen getting harmed, or in some cases killed while on their daily commute. A recent case that made headlines was a 57-year-old woman set on fire while sleeping on F train. Crime without reason is the very cause of community collapse. But unlike cleanliness initiatives, officials have responded to this spike in these destructive acts.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has implemented a $77 million dollar strategy to combat the crime epidemic. This will implement 750 new police officers to ensure there are at least two in every car. This all seems desirable in theory, but when we look at the past crime prevention policies, there is a discouraging conclusion before us. In 1965, Mayor Robert F. Wagnon set a similar order in place with the same motive, to make New York a safer place. In the 1970s, when budgets were cut, crime soared again. This begs the question: will history repeat itself? If so, millions of people, including doctors, nurses, teachers and families will all be put at risk every time they use the subway.
Considering that it’s easier to cut than to construct, it’s not out of line to assume that with the next round of unavoidable cuts, crime will return underground to ravage the people of New York City just like it did in the ‘70s. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results; in that case, it would be insane to keep cutting budgets on safety strategies and expecting crime incidents to go down. The only way to return a sense of security to the subway is to put strategies in place and stand behind them. With the seed of Gov. Hochul’s new initiatives planted, we must let them develop and become rooted before we can determine if they can stand on their own. As mentioned before, change is in the hands of all who can speak out. Calling local representatives and advocating in support of this new strategy cost absolutely nothing and could aid in protecting millions of people who rely on the subway to get to their destination.
In a time of such division among communities and uncertainty in security, the people of New York City are overdue for their safety to be held as a top priority. The city relies on the backs of its hard-working citizens, and it’s crucial that this is reflected in the infrastructure they rely on. Whether it be advocation for cleanliness initiatives or supported strategy for crime strategies, one thing stands true, the New York City subway system serves as a catalyst for economic prosperity and growth in the city. From ensuring millions get to work to fostering urban development, the subway is a resource the city cannot afford to lose.