Are N.Y.C. Subways Dangerous? What the Statistics Show After Recent High-Profile Attacks

The New York City Subway has seen a spate of high-profile violent incidents over the past month, raising the collective blood pressure of Big Apple residents. But is the system as unsafe as these viral incidents would make it out to be?

Major crimes on the subway were down 5.4% in 2024 compared to the year prior, NYPD statistics show, and down 13% compared to 2019, before the pandemic hollowed out transit ridership, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters on Monday, Jan. 6.

But murders are a stubborn exception: the NYPD recorded 10 murders in the subway system in 2024, tied for the highest rates since 1997.

And many recent incidents have been of a shocking nature. On Dec. 22, a homeless woman, Debrina Kawam, was fatally set on fire while sleeping on an F train in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The suspected killer has been charged with first-degree murder and arson.

Then, on New Year’s Eve, 45-year-old Joseph Lynskey was seriously injured after being randomly pushed onto the tracks as a 1 train arrived at the 18th Street station in Chelsea. A suspect is in custody and is charged with attempted murder and assault.

On New Year’s Day, a straphanger was stabbed on a 2 train at 14th Street in Chelsea; the following day, an MTA cleaner was stabbed at the Pelham Parkway station in the Bronx. Police arrested the man they suspect was responsible for both attacks: he has more than 80 prior arrests, the New York Daily News reported.

While overall crime in the subway is well below that seen above ground — New York recorded 377 homicides overall in 2024 — the closed nature of the transit system lends itself to visceral fears.

“I make sure I’m away from the [platform] edge. And you just be vigilant, you know, just look around,” Tunde Cousins, a subway rider catching a train at the Prospect Park station on the B/Q line in Brooklyn on Monday, Jan. 6, tells PEOPLE.

Even though the statistics say one thing, perception can be a different story. As such, officials said Monday that they intend to roll out new strategies aiming to combat crime and to make straphangers feel safer.

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The NYPD is reassigning 200 officers to “specialty train patrols” aboard subways, Tisch said Monday, and more cops will also be deployed to the 50 highest-crime stations across the city, she said.

“The subways will always be a bellwether for the perception of public safety in New York City,” said Tisch. “Declining crime numbers are significant, but we still must do more because people don’t feel safe in our subways.”

The NYPD has repeatedly surged its presence in the subway system in recent years, though often at the turnstiles to combat fare evasion. But Tisch said platforms and trains, where most crimes occur, are “quite obviously where our officers need to be.”

Tisch says their biggest issue in combating crime is “surging recidivism.” The NYPD recorded a 146.5% increase in people being arrested three or more times in one year on felony assault charges, Tisch said. Tisch and New York City Mayor Eric Adams said they are pushing state lawmakers to amend criminal discovery laws they claim are hampering prosecutions.

In response to the high-profile violence, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to introduce legislation expanding the state’s ability to involuntarily commit people to psychiatric care.

Meanwhile, the MTA plans to install platform “fences” at 100 stations over the next five years, per its 2025-29 capital plan.

However, a long-incubating MTA pilot program to install full-length platform doors at three stations, as seen in many cities around the world, has never come to fruition; transit officials have previously contended the design and construction of most stations is incompatible with such doors.

Despite the jarring incidents, subways are still carrying millions of commuters every day, most of whom are accustomed to being vigilant.

“I’ve just always had a sense of caution around it all. People are pushed on the tracks and all these things, and for the whole 20 years I’ve lived here people have been stabbed,” said Charity Dawson, a commuter at the Prospect Park station. “I feel like they need to get it together for sure, but yeah, I don’t know if I would say it’s worse.”