That would be a loss for Big Apple commuters.
The Labor leader blamed the heavy burden on drivers in Manhattan's traffic jams, which begin Sunday, and said the subways were too dangerous to give commuters another option.
“Introducing congestion pricing now is terrible, it's disgusting. It's just a slap in the face,” Phil Valenti, president of the 1,600-member Transportation Workers Union Local 106, told the Post Thursday. . “The subway is not safe right now, please give us a break.
“New Yorkers are being forced into a terribly unfair position,” said Valenti, whose union represents bus and subway supervisors. “If you pay $9, you can get into a congestion charge zone where violent crime has skyrocketed, or ride the subway. It would defeat the entire purpose of the setup. MTA Chairman Jano Lieber and Governor Kathy Hochul are to blame for this absolute mess.”
Despite patrols by the NYPD, the National Guard and even the crime-fighting Guardian Angels, the Big Apple's subway system has been hit by violence for the fifth day in a row as traffic crime spikes. It was reported early Thursday that the
The horrific arson death of a New Jersey straphanger on a Brooklyn F train on December 22nd left five people stabbed and slashed and a 45-year-old straphanger thrown under a Manhattan subway train. It was just the beginning of the latest underground crime spree. From Sunday.
Valenti used NYPD statistics to show that the 10 subway murders in 2024 will be double the total in 2023. It was also an increase of 233% compared to five years ago before the coronavirus outbreak, the highest in this generation.
Last year, through Sunday, December 29, 2024, there were 573 felony assault cases, an increase of 51% compared to five years ago.
The MTA loses $700 million a year to subway and bus fare fraud, he said, and that should be a priority over forcing drivers to pay new fares.
“Governor Hochul's policies have made New York a wide-open sanctuary state, and now mentally ill people from all over the world are homeless, walking the streets, riding the subways, and indiscriminately harassing people. It’s killing,” Valenti said.
“Passengers and workers are not safe.”
The MTA defended subway safety.
“The NYPD has reported the attached 2024 full-year crime numbers, which reflect a 5.4% full-year decline in major crimes and a 12.6% decline compared to pre-pandemic 2019.” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. “The numbers speak for themselves.”
“Thousands of NYPD transit officers work day and night to keep the subways safe, and the record shows that they This shows that it is having an impact.”
“I know firsthand that to suggest otherwise is to belittle the commitment of transit agencies to their employees and riders, and the real results those employees have delivered.”
The newspaper has reached out to the governor's office, the New York City Police Department and the mayor's office for comment.
