NYC Subways Haven't Been This Safe Since Before COVID: Mayor, Gov

NEW YORK CITY — Feeling safer on the subways lately, New Yorkers? Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul claim you are — or, at least have good reason to.

Subway crime in recent months fell to levels unseen since before the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor and governor said in a joint news conference Friday.

The first weeks of 2023 saw crime unfold at 1.7 incidents for every million riders, Hochul said.

By comparison, that rate stood at 2.3 incidents per million riders over the past two years, the governor said. The level pre-COVID was 1.5 crimes per million straphangers, she said.

"We’re not exactly where we were, but that is an amazing trend,” she said.

Hochul and Adams credited an increased push on subway safety over the past year, including a flood of extra cops starting in October, for the drop.

Major felonies in and on the subways fell 16 percent since October compared to the same period last year, they said. And major crime is down 31 percent so far this year, officials said.

Adams likened subway crime a year ago to a "blazing fire." He argued that officials had to deal with a dual problem: crime was rising, but also riders' perception of it spiraling out of control.

“Crime is actually the number and it’s how people feel,” he said.

“People felt unsafe in our system.”

Many critics have pointed their finger at Adams — who spent much of his first months in office decrying lawbreaking of all types — for the widespread perception that crime was higher than data actually showed.

A new MTA survey does show signs that straphangers are feeling safer, said Janno Lieber, the agency's chair and CEO.

In one month, the number of rider who said they feel safe or very safe shot up from 40 percent to nearly 60 percent, Lieber said.

And there are other numbers that Lieber found significant.

"Ridership up this month 35 percent, crime down 31 percent: that's the month of January," he said.