New York City Chief of Traffic Sarah Feinberg on Sunday blamed the media for the subway driving, claiming that the media sparked fears about the hiring of COVID-19 on trains.
“[The subway system] was really badly served by some of the first pandemic coverage, “Feinberg, MTA’s interim president of traffic, said in an interview with ABC 7, referring to news footage at the time of subway trains. packed.
“So I think people started thinking, the last place I want to be is in a subway car full of people,” he said.
Feinberg said the data show that despite more than 28,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the Big Apple over the past year, public transportation is not a hot spot for transmitting the virus.
“Well, a year goes by, now there’s been study after study that shows that the subway system, the transit system, not just in New York, but really everywhere, it’s not really a place that is vectoring the virus.” , he told the station – without reference to specific studies.
His comments come when the number of subway commuters in New York City fell this month to about 70% in February 2020 and when the number of urban vehicles fell by 50%.
The fall of the straphangers also comes amid a series of assaults on the subway that left two homeless riders dead last week and countless injured.
Loss of employment may also be related to the decline in pilots, as more than 550,000 New Yorkers lost their jobs over the past year and others changed jobs remotely.
Traffic officials, including Feinberg, have also made cuts to subway service lines such as C and F trains and reduced last year’s hours.
A study commissioned by the agency predicted that the subway crossing would not return to pre-COVID-19 levels until at least 2024.