New York transit chief Sarah Feinberg blamed the media on Sunday for low-traffic subways.
‘[The subway system] some of the earlier coverage of the pandemic was really badly served, ”Feinberg, the MTA’s interim transit president, said in an interview with ABC 7, referring to news material during the packed metro trains.
“So I think people started thinking, the last place I want to be is in a crowded subway car,” she said.
Feinberg said data shows that – despite more than 28,000 COVID-19 deaths in the Big Apple in the past year – public transportation is not an excellent place to transmit the virus.
“Well, fast forward a year, research is now underway showing that the subway system, the transit system, not just in New York, but really everywhere, is really not a place that vectors the virus,” she told the station: without referring to specific studies.
Her comments come when subway management in New York City dropped to about 70 percent of it this month in February 2020, and because city bus management dropped 50 percent.
The strong fall in danger also comes amid a series of metro assaults that killed two homeless riders last week and injured numerous others.
Job losses can also be linked to the decline in riders – with more than 550,000 New Yorkers losing their jobs in the past year and others switching remotely.
Transit officials, including Feinberg, have also cut back on metro lines in recent years, such as the C and F trains.
A study commissioned by the agency predicted that metro management will only return to pre-COVID-19 levels by at least 2024.