NYCT Restoring Overnight Subway Service?

(Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit)

While MTA New York City Transit’s (NYCT) overnight shutdown has not been canceled, it will be cut in half.

The move is effective Feb. 22.

Millions of New Yorkers and others interested in the transit scene were shocked when the iconic all-night service on the New York subways came to an end on May 6 last year, due to the COVID-19 virus. Railway Age reported the story, complete with disturbing pictures of the otherwise-homeless inhabitants of the system on May 1. 

Although the trains are still running through the night so they are positioned for cleaning, which is required to fight the virus and to move employees around the system, riders have not been allowed on board between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. That ban on non-employees will be reduced to two hours, between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

The increased hours of service were announced on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) website late on Feb. 15. MTA quotes Chairman and CEO Pat Foye as saying: “The partial late-night reopening of the subways will support the Governor’s gradual reopening as we are seeing positive trends with the deployment of the vaccine, lower infection rate, the resumption of indoor dining, and extended hours for bars and restaurants. The suspension of service for two hours will enable the MTA to continue the most aggressive cleaning and disinfecting regimen that has led the subway to be the cleanest it has ever been.”

The MTA statement also said: “The extension of the MTA’s operating hours builds on the Governor’s recent measures to further re-open the economy amid a steady decline in the state’s positivity and hospitalization rates. On February 14, the Governor issued an Executive Order extending closing times to 11 p.m. statewide for restaurants, bars, gyms and fitness centers, casinos, billiards halls, and any other location with an SLA license. The Governor also announced sports and entertainment events in major stadiums and arenas with a capacity of 10,000 or more people can re-open with limited spectators beginning February 23.”    

Media Coverage

Local media have been covering the story, too. Clayton Guse began his report in the Daily News this way: “The overnight shutdown of New York’s subways will begin to end next week” and ended it by noting: “Subway trains run on the same overnight schedules as before the daily closures began on May 6, but only cops and transit workers have been allowed to board from 1 to 5 a.m. since then.” 

Christina Goldbaum and Brian Rosenthal reported in The New York Times that the move was “marking a step toward the full reopening of city life amid the coronavirus pandemic.” Their story bore the headline: “N.Y.C.’s Subway Will Run Longer Into Night Next Week.” Their report also indicated that Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have softened a previously firm stance about restoring overnight service: “In New York, Mr. Cuomo and other officials had previously said the subway would fully reopen only at the pandemic’s end. The phased opening appeared to signal a new approach.”

A Welcome Move

Advocates welcomed the move as a step in the right direction, and noted that declaring the subways off-limits to riders at night forced the agency to spend extra money to run an enhanced overnight bus network. While most of the city’s bus routes have returned to the pre-pandemic schedules, there are three new overnight routes between two “outer boroughs”: Brooklyn and the Bronx, and Manhattan. Those routes were added to the nighttime network to fill some of the gaps left by the subway closure. 

Andrew Albert, Chair of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) told Railway Age: “‘The City that Never Sleeps’ is going to be resting a little less.” Albert acknowledged that the trains still have to be cleaned thoroughly, but that keeping riders off the trains until 5 a.m. posed a hardship, especially for many essential workers. “If they had closed the subways only from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., it would have been more tolerable,” he said. He still added that the late-night closure should not have happened in the first place: “The subways are the arteries and veins that move New York and the entire region, and it is essential that they run 24/7, because this region is 24/7!”

The MTA release reported that the rigorous cleaning regimen has helped riders to feel safe on the subways. Albert agreed, and told Railway Age: “Hopefully, we have learned a lot in the cleaning process over the months since the shutdown started, so we can make the trains clean and sanitary, without the need for any more shutdowns.”

On Feb. 15, the Times quoted another advocate, reporting: “Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance, a transit group, praised the decision to shorten the nightly closures. But he urged the governor to fully reopen the subway system.” That report continued: “‘Tens of thousands of riders depend on overnight subway service,’ he said. ‘The governor’s partial reopening is an important step forward. Riders will continue to press for full reopening in light of the M.T.A.’s clear ability to clean trains and the pressing need for more eyes on the system to keep New Yorkers safe.’”

On Feb. 14, MTA’s Foye and NYCT interim President Sarah Feinberg sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea asking for an additional 1,000 NYPD officers to be deployed into the subway and bus system (download letter below). This request was in addition to the surge of 500 police announced by the NYPD on Feb. 13, following what the MTA officials called “the tragic and shocking crime spree that occurred on the A Line Friday [Feb. 12] night.” In their letter, the officials wrote: “The fact is that we all see a disturbing trend above ground and below ground, which as you know began prior to the pandemic, and now has been exacerbated by the acute mental health crisis we are facing. Ridership is down 70% in the subway and 50% on buses, and while overall crime remains on the decline, felony assaults have increased 26.5%.”

City Reopening

Things may be looking up for New York’s night owls. In fact, the entire city appears to be showing more signs of life, including limited indoor dining, which returned on Feb. 12. Many New Yorkers view all-night subway service as one of the city’s signature features. Until last May, the trains had run all night since the first IRT train left the beautiful, but now-defunct, City Hall Station in 1904, except for short periods during emergencies like 9/11.

When Railway Age first reported this story last May, we noted that the riders and their advocates were not the only ones who felt aggrieved by the closure. So were some of their elected officials, including New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat who represents the Village. He was planning to introduce a bill that would require the subway system to reopen the all-night operation and keep it running. Whether or not they even know about his proposal, it’s a safe bet that many New Yorkers hope that such strong action will not be needed. For his own part, Albert hopes to see the subways run all night once again before the end of the summer.