Again. On Monday, August 6, two tourists from Mexico were pushed onto the subway tracks by an emotionally disturbed woman. Fortunately, no train was coming and the women made it back to the platform with only minor injuries with the help of other passengers. But this story is all too familiar to New Yorkers, who can remember other pushing incidents with more tragic outcomes, most vividly that of New Yorker Michelle Go, who was pushed to her death in Times Square in 2022.
Pushing incidents are rare, occurring on average only once in 43 million rides. But aside from being every New Yorker’s nightmare, random incidents where people are pushed onto the tracks have a huge impact on the perception of safety on the subway. In response, the MTA and the city have deployed more police and mental health professionals, including the innovative SCOUT program, which targets the severely mentally ill to remove them voluntarily or involuntarily from the subway. Crime on the subway has dropped 11 percent this year compared to pre-pandemic times, which some say is due to the increased presence of NYPD officers.
But here too, the feeling of safety has not improved, partly due to high-profile incidents such as shoving on the subway. In the MTA’s most recent customer survey, only 44 percent of passengers said they felt safe in subway stations. Safety was one of the most important issues that, according to passengers, would improve their satisfaction and make them use the subway more often.
There is something simple the MTA can do to make us feel safer and be safer. As someone who has ridden the subway for more than three-quarters of a century, I remember the subways having metal fences with gaps next to the train doors at some critical stations to prevent crowds from spilling onto the tracks. You could see them at the Times Square Shuttle and South Ferry, but they are no longer there.
My colleague Kaylee Moon and I have been reviewing measures to reduce trackside disruption in other cities. The gold standard is floor-to-ceiling platform screen doors that resemble elevators. There are variations, including platform edge doors that do not reach the ceiling, platform screen doors, and vertical screens or cables. These installations have become standard on nearly every new rail line built in the last 20 years.
But in a very old system like the New York City subway, there are geometric, aeronautical and structural problems that make platform screen doors and similar solutions impractical and, in some cases, unsafe. The cost can also be prohibitive.
According to the MTA’s 3,920-page 2020 study, only 41 of 472 stations can currently accommodate platform screen doors. In the long term, platform screen doors could be feasible at up to 128 stations by replacing train cars over the next decade, which would equalize door spacing. At the remaining stations, however, platform screen doors would result in inadequate spacing for people with disabilities (43 percent of unfeasible stations), compromise the structural integrity of high platforms (28 percent), or serve trains whose doors open at different locations, even with new train cars (9 percent).
Previous generations of transit leaders have looked at this issue and reached the same conclusion. For example, in 2018, former New York City transit chief and Andy “Train Daddy” Byford postponed a test of platform screen doors due to cost concerns and instead proposed using the money to improve wheelchair accessibility.
The 2020 study found that automatic gates, including platform screen doors, at the 128 feasible stations would cost between $13 billion and $14 billion, or about $100 million per station. In addition, about $120 million would be needed each year for maintenance alone.
However, the construction of solid metal fences with openings for subway car doors could lead to a Hundreds of stations. In fact, this technology has been used in systems around the world for decades.
The MTA has chosen this route as a test. Barriers have already been installed at ten stations and the MTA plans to continue the expansion. So far, the work has been done in-house, saving a lot of money on expensive consultants to design the platform screen doors, the astronomical installation costs, and engineers to inspect and accept the work. The congestion toll “pause” has already cost the MTA a lot of money and is jeopardizing its capital program.
For me, the choice is pretty clear: either provide some protection at hundreds of stations at a cost less than it costs to install fly screens at a single station, or invest billions in just a handful of stations and cut programs like improving accessibility and modernizing signals.
MTA, we count on you to make the right choice.
And speaking of city tolls:
