New subway anti-attack fencing is being defeated by straphangers.
Confused passengers derided the move Tuesday as “stupid” as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is experimenting with installing barriers on Harlem station platforms in hopes of reducing attacks on train conductors. did.
“I don’t see how it’s going to help,” said Myra Dent McGriff, 58, as she waited for a train at the 125th Street station. At the station, thin orange pillars uselessly block off part of the floor with the letters “” carved into it. Not standing. ”
“I could walk right through there,” she added, pointing to a large, human-sized space between chest-high pillars.
Rider Brenda McCray, 57, spoke candidly about how effective they are.
“You can walk through there. I don’t get it. That’s stupid,” said McRae, 57.
The new railings on subway platforms 4-5-6 are designed to line up with the conductor’s cabin when the cars come to a stop. The experiment, announced Monday, is intended to protect MTA employees from the wrath of crazed individuals who have previously attacked them with BB guns, hammers, and other weapons.
But commuters seem to think this design is down to the same crazy people respecting easy-travel zones.
“It doesn’t make sense to me because people can still walk in there,” McRae said. “It’s not like they’re going to keep you away from the conductor with barbed wire or anything like that. That’s crazy.”
Some conductors weren’t impressed with the MTA’s latest plan to keep subways safe, either.
Asked if he felt safe with the fence, one conductor said, “Not really,” and said he saw countless passengers walking straight through the fence to board the train.
“It is what it is, though,” he said with a shrug. “It’s a beginning.”
Some balked at the fence, saying it would be great if criminals followed the rules.
“A crime will be a crime, but if people listen, it will be safer to open and close.” [their compartment windows] Please be careful,” said the conductor.
“If people would listen, they would be fine, but they are not,” she added, pointing to someone standing in the middle of the exclusion zone.
Further complicating the problem, subway trains do not line up on platforms as intended, leaving barriers installed between cars floating, and conductors finding themselves in less-than-impregnable defensive zones. It tends to remain far outside.
“For the most part, this is a very rare event,” said one conductor who supported the barrier even though his train was not lined up with the orange post at that exact moment.
Another conductor wholeheartedly supported all efforts to keep her and her colleagues safe, explaining that she herself had been attacked on the job before.
“They’re going to keep people away so we don’t get assaulted. Like me. I got assaulted on the train four months ago. I’m just getting back to work,” she said. said.
The MTA will monitor the effectiveness of the barriers over the next several months before deciding whether to install them at stations across the Big Apple, representatives said in a statement.
“Officials will monitor the effectiveness of the posts in discouraging customers from standing in this area and deterring attacks on subway conductors,” the MTA said in a statement announcing the action. Ta.
However, straphangers questioned the value of spending money on a barrier.
“They should take the money and use it to alleviate fear,” McRae said.
“You want the conductors to be safe, but what about our safety?” Crimes on trains are on the rise. ”
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks.
