Hundreds Ejected From Subways In 1st Week Of Mayor's Safety Plan

NEW YORK, NY — Hundreds of people were ejected from city subways in the first week of the mayor's new safety initiative but less than 25 accepted a spot in a city shelter, newly released data show.

In the first week of implementation of Mayor Eric Adams' "Subway Safety Plan," which launched on Feb. 21, teams made contact with roughly 1,050 people and ejected 455, the city data show.

Only 22 agreed to go to a shelter, according to the data.

Not every one of the 1,050 New Yorkers included in the data was homeless and some were experiencing mental health crises, a City Hall spokesperson noted.

Meanwhile, a crackdown on subway rules — included in the safety plan — resulted in 1,553 summonses and 143 arrests, according to the data.

Police say the new data show a 64 percent increase in arrests and a 10 percent bump in summons, according to reports.

The MTA and NYPD were told to focus on those using the subway for anything but transportation under the plan, including those sleeping, smoking, drinking or behaving aggressively in the transit system.

Major transit crime has risen 30 percent since the mayor's plan was put into place, and represent an even bigger spike year to year.

There were 55 transit crimes between Feb. 21 and Feb. 27 across the city, compared to only 18 in the same week last year, NYPD data shows.

Crimes include a series of Brooklyn subway stabbings, a Broadway Junction shooting, a hammer attack at Queens Plaza, and a man who smeared human feces on a straphanger in The Bronx.

Adams has pointed out the plan is still in its early stages.

"The systemic challenges facing people experiencing homelessness and living with serious mental illness developed over decades, and will take time to fix," he said in a statement about the data.

"But our teams are down in the subways everyday operationalizing and implementing this plan. New Yorkers should know that we are working every day to make our subways safer.”

Homeless advocates doubt Adams' plan adequately addresses what they say is the greater issue; that many unhoused individuals don't have anywhere else to go.

The city notes that aside from a spot in a shelter, the teams offer New Yorkers medical care, referral to food pantries and housing and job offices.