Big Apple transport workers say they are starting to feel like ducks.
The recent increase in violence in subway and bus routes in New York – including the bloody train that caused half of two trains and two injuries over the weekend – has seen some MTA employees shrug their shoulders.
“The reality is, it’s always a risk,” said Wayne Wong, a train operator. “NYCT says they care, but they do not. Many times they say the police are on their way, but that’s not true and it’s a crapshoot.
“I can tell you that there has been and is so much drug use going on, and sometimes different shipping teams show up that gather at different stations,” Wong said. “Train operators, conductors and cleaners see a lot and it’s best to listen to us.”
In the past two weeks, there have been more than a dozen attacks on rods and transport workers from the Bronx to Queens, including an assault on an MTA bus driver who was beaten with a 2-by-4 in Brooklyn last week.
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On Sunday, Rigoberto Lopez, 21, a disturbing homeless man, is charged with murder for stabbing four people along the Metro A line and killing two.
According to MTA statistics, there have been 11 assaults on transport workers since the beginning of January – and dozens of incidents where employees have been harassed.
“I’m not going to tell you that I’m scared – I’ve been there before,” Metro conductor Andrew Diomede told The Post. ‘But I’m very scared. You never know what’s going to happen. ‘
“Right now I’m not even in the system – I’m looking for an assault,” he said. “This is the second time. I was hit in the head with a bottle ten years ago.”
“Anything with violence does not surprise me at all,” Diomede said. “This is nothing new. I mean, yes, two people were killed. You just had a guy who took it to another level. But there’s always violence and assault.”
Another train operator complained that pedestrians on the subway were constantly ‘in your face’.
“I spat during the pandemic,” the employee said. “Recently I made a man in my car shout, ‘I’ll kill everyone! ‘I called it in and they just said’ Signal in route ‘, which means they are not even going to call the police, but I have to use the horn to signal the police and hope they come. No one came. . “
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The MTA responded to the assassination attempt late Sunday in an open letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, requesting that 1,500 additional police officers be deployed to the transit system – three times the number which Shea promised Saturday.
“We believe that the additional 500 officers you have agreed to dedicate to the metro system are an important first step,” said MTA President Pat Foye and Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg on Sunday. said in the joint letter.
“However, we believe that more is needed, which is why we are writing today to request an additional 1,000 NYPD officers to the Transit Bureau to patrol subways and buses immediately,” the letter reads.
MTA officials said Monday they had not received a response.
City Hall spokesman Avery Cohen said in an email on Sunday that the promised 500 officers “will work hand in hand with the thousands of officers and outreach workers who are already doing this work in our communities and metros.”
Officials from Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union said they had also been looking for additional police in the metro for a long time – and were at least grateful for Shea’s promised 500 police.
“Nobody feels safe in the subway,” union president Tony Utano said in a statement. ‘We constantly called on Mayor de Blasio to add more police on the metro. He finally answered. This is a good step. But it should be a long time assignment, not a quick flash in the pan. ‘
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“We need police officers in uniform, very visible, throughout the stations,” Utano said. “They need to be seen regularly on the platforms and trains.”