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The city subway will resume 24/7 service beginning Monday, May 17.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Back on track.
The city subway will resume 24 hour-a-day service beginning May 17, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week.
The resumption of 24-hour service will coincide with Cuomo’s announcement lifting the 12 a.m. food and beverage service curfew for outdoor dining areas.
Beginning May 6, 2020, New York City Transit closed for disinfection from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided free alternative transportation options to essential workers during the overnight hours that included a significant expansion of bus service across the city and for-hire vehicles as necessary.
On Feb. 15, Cuomo announced that the MTA would partially restore overnight service on the New York City subway, pending continued positive trends in New York’s COVID indicators. Effective Monday, Feb. 22, the MTA extended late-night subway service by two hours, moving to a 2 a.m. – 4 a.m. closure daily.
“COVID-19 is on the decline in New York City and across New York State, and as we shift our focus to rebuilding our economy, helping businesses and putting people back to work, it’s time to bring the subway back to full capacity,” Cuomo said. “We reduced subway service more than a year ago to disinfect our trains and combat the rising tide of COVID cases, and we’re going to restore 24-hour service as New York gets back on the right track. This expansion will help working people, businesses and families get back to normal as the city reopens and reimagines itself for a new future.”
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the return of 24/7 subway service as soon as possible.
“The city that never sleeps is slowly—but surely—living up to its name again and waking up from the COVID-19 pandemic, but so should the subway system—and ASAP,” Schumer said. “Workers and riders need a fully functioning, 24/7 subway system badly, especially with restaurant and bar curfews slated to end. We already hear the stories of people left largely stranded during the current late-night shutdown, and the thing is, it will only get worse as the city fully reopens. To keep this recovery and good trend going, we need the subways working around-the-clock. The MTA has the money. I made sure of that.”
According to the MTA, more than 2.1 million subway trips occurred in the New York City Transit system on Friday, April 23. This marked a new record high amid the pandemic. Moreover, the MTA said that weekday ridership has consistently hovered at or above the 2 million mark since April 9 of this year.
“Overnight workers like waitresses, bartenders and more depend on transit to get around in the late-night hours. We’ve been moving them for the last year by bus and I’m thrilled that we can once again provide them with safe and efficient overnight subway service as well, as more COVID restrictions on businesses are lifted,” said Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit. “We take our duty to keep riders safe seriously—which is why our mask mandate and disinfecting regimen will continue, and we will keep pressing the City to provide the police and mental health resources needed to accommodate returning customers. New Yorkers—including our heroic workforce—deserve nothing less.”
