Demanding Answers: MTA Touts Improved Service As Riders Question Subway Safety
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The MTA says the transit system is on the right track when it comes to on-time performance, but what about subway security?
With recent reports of reckless behavior, riders' concern has intensified.
The MTA's top leadership gathered Tuesday at the Fulton Street subway station to tout improved service, but as they patted themselves on the back, down on the subway platform, riders are asking what's service without safety?
"What's your number one concern when you ride the subway?" CBS2's Christina Fan asked one rider.
"Someone attacking me," one woman said.
There have been several viral videos of subway lawlessness recently, from a 23-year-old woman getting slashed, unprovoked, in the face while on the 6 train to men on motorbikes brazenly riding their way onto an F train.
"There's a lot of places where there is no security, so I can imagine how that happened," another woman said.
Fan demanded answers from MTA Chairman Pat Foye.
"A lot of people are very appalled as to how nobody saw them, nobody stopped them," she said.
"That should not have happened. It's being investigated by the NYPD. Bringing motorbikes, which have obviously fuel of some sort in them, creates a public hazard. It's illegal," Foye said.
Last year, the MTA approved the hiring of hundreds of cops to flood its transit system.
Tuesday, CBS2 asked officials where those new officers were when the crimes took place.
"One hundred and forty police officers, new police officers to the MTA police department, have been sworn in and are on the job. By the end of the year, we'll have increased the size of the force by 500 police officers," Foye said.
The MTA says it is also working with the NYPD to stop vandalism at the hand of graffiti artists.
So far this year, there have been over a dozen major incidents, including 11 cars painted from top to bottom in Jamaica, Queens.
