New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) head Janno Lieber suggested that recent high-profile subway attacks have “gotten in people’s heads” to make them feel that the subway system is unsafe.
Lieber spoke to Bloomber News’ podcast “Bloomberg Talks” Monday to discuss a new “congestion pricing” plan that costs drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey.
The plan is meant to incentivize New Yorkers to use public transportation. However, trust in mass transit, Lieber agreed, has been shaken after attacks on the subway system.
GUARDIAN ANGELS RESUME NEW YORK CITY PATROLS AFTER SUBWAY BURNING DEATH: ‘NEVER SEEN IT THIS BAD’
Nevertheless, Lieber argued crime has gone down, suggesting the recent viral incidents are giving people the impression of feeling unsafe.
“The overall stats are positive,” Lieber said. “Last year, we were actually 12.5% less crime than 2019, the last year before COVID. But there’s no question that some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks, have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel less safe.”
Lieber acknowledged the justice system “has to do its job” in making sure people who “have long rap sheets are put away.”
Still, he insisted, “They’re very, very few of these folks, but they have an impact on people’s sense of safety. And we need to deal with them in a way that protects the riders and the public.”
The congestion pricing plan took effect soon after a high-profile case of an illegal immigrant allegedly setting a woman on fire in the NYC subway system last month.
More recently, one man was charged with attempted murder after allegedly pushing a man onto NYC subway tracks.
It also follows the high-profile trial of former Marine Daniel Penny, who was charged but found not guilty by a jury for his actions in defending subway passengers in 2023 from a mentally unstable homeless man named Jordan Neely, who later died.
HOCHUL’S CHRISTMASTIME BOAST OF SAFER SUBWAY CAME AMID STRING OF ALARMING VIOLENT ATTACKS
In response to the wave of violent crimes, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed 1,000 National Guard members to patrol the subway system and directed the MTA to install security cameras in subway cars.
