New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Commissioner Jano Lieber suggested that recent high-profile subway attacks are “getting into people's heads” and making them feel like the subway system is unsafe.
Lieber told Bloomberg News. podcast Monday's “Bloomberg Talks” will discuss a new “congestion toll” plan that would cost drivers $9 to pass under Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn or New Jersey.
The plan aims to encourage New Yorkers to use public transportation. But Lieber agreed that confidence in mass transit has been shaken in the wake of the subway attack.
MTA Chairman Jano Lieber defended a new congestion pricing plan that would encourage New Yorkers to use public transit. (Getty)
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Despite this, Lieber claims that crime is down, suggesting that recent virus incidents are making people feel unsafe.
“The overall statistics are positive,” Lieber said. “Last year we actually saw a 12.5% drop in crime compared to the pre-COVID-19 year before, 2019. But some of these high-profile incidents, egregious attacks, were There's no question that it's stuck in your head and has a negative impact on the entire system, making it less secure. ”
Lieber acknowledged that the justice system “has to do its part” to “make sure we clear up people with long rap sheets.”
Several serious crimes have occurred in the New York City subways. (Luis C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Still, he insisted, “These are a very small number of people, but they have an impact on people's sense of safety, and we need to deal with them in a way that protects riders and the public.”
The congestion pricing plan comes on the heels of a high-profile incident in which an undocumented immigrant allegedly set a woman on fire on a New York City subway last month.
Recently, a man was charged with attempted murder after allegedly pushing a man onto subway tracks in New York City.
This also follows what has received a lot of attention. The trial of former Marine Daniel Pennywas indicted by a jury in 2023 for protecting a subway passenger from mentally unstable homeless man Jordan Neely, who later died, but was acquitted by a jury.
Hochul's Christmas boast was a safer subway amid a series of alarming violent attacks
New York Governor Kathy Hochul touted the safety measures put in place to protect New Yorkers riding the subway. (AP)
In response to the wave of violent crime, Democratic New York Gov. Cathy Hochul sent 1,000 National Guard troops to patrol subways and directed the MTA to install security cameras in subway cars.
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