Hi. I’m the insider referred to above. I ride the subways and buses frequently. Indeed, they are my mode of transport. I don’t employ road vehicles. Never with Uber and only rarely with yellow cabs.
Sure, this is anecdotal. So here’s an anecdote:
On Tuesday, I traveled from 72nd Street to Grand Street. This trip required two subway lines — the IRT and the IND — but only one payment. Except for the trip home, which required another payment.
Nothing of any note whatsoever happened on those trips. The cars were quite full in both directions. In my observation, the trains have been nicely populated since our highly successful congestion pricing plan went into effect, I forgot when.
So that’s that. But Harper’s April Index contained a few surprising facts of life that are non-anecdotal. Here they are, bolded.
Estimated percentage of violent crimes in New York City that are committed on the streets: 43
In the subway: 3
Estimated number of crimes committed in the New York City subway for every million hours people spend there: 1