First Ave Stop on “L” Train is Latest to Receive MTA’s New Subway Platform Barriers

Subway barriers are popping up all around NYC following a surge earlier this year of public transit attacks. This safety pilot program, employed by the MTA, hopes to deflect human intrusion onto subway tracks—a horrific phenomenon newly associated with the City’s transit system.

The L train stop at First Ave. on the border between the East Village and Stuyvesant Town is the latest addition in the campaign.

The MTA has been adding barriers to subway platforms at numerous Manhattan stations since January, including the 191st St. stop on the 1 line.

Riders Alliance, a public transit advocacy organization thinks the latest move by the MTA is a step in the right direction.

“Platform barriers, however minimal they might seem, are a small piece of a much bigger puzzle,” said Danny Pearlstein, the organization’s policy and communications director.

But there are some critics who think the MTA should be putting its resources elsewhere.

“The fact that we have to put guardrails up in the transit system is a testament to the fact that our transit system is not safe,” said Jorge Arteaga of Right to Be. “Why do we have to put guardrails? Why do we need increased police security? It seems like a temporary fix.”

Right to Be, a Brooklyn-based activist organization, was launched by a group of young people after hearing the haunting story of a woman’s harassment on the NYC subway. Arteaga, the vice president of movement building, oversees the free virtual bystander training sessions, soon to be offered on-site in cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Arteaga, who called the subway barriers a “band-aid” solution to a systemic problem, said Right to Be reached out to the MTA directly, offering a partnership to train New Yorkers on their “5Ds” of bystander intervention: Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay and Direct.

“We’ve collected over 32,000 stories of harassment since we started our organization,” Aretaga said. “We’ve seen a tremendous rise in crime on the subways.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the NYPD Transit Bureau reported a 99 percent increase in rider complaints for assault, a 125 percent increase in complaints for harassment and an 84 percent complaint increase overall.

Mayor Adams, on the other hand, says subway crime is on its way down after an uptick earlier this year prompted him to increase NYPD patrols in the subways and Gov. Hochul sent unarmed National Guard troops into the system to provide another presence and to help with things like bag searches.

Year to date, in the first half of 2024 through June 30, the number of crime incidents reported in the transit system dropped 6.9 percent to 1,044 incidents, compared to 1,121 in the same six months a year ago.

The MTA’s barrier initiative is a low-tech, low-cost operation that uses in-house resources.

“This is about finding creative ways to improve safety,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “A hearty pat on the back to New York City Transit professionals who found a practical way to jump-start the feeling—and reality—of safety in the subway system.”

The first installation was completed in January, and Lieber noted the program’s “experimental phase” earlier this year—if this solution is effective, he said, you’ll be seeing a lot more of these gates throughout the City.

“You could be sure I will be standing behind these barriers wherever they are provided,” said “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz, former NYC traffic commissioner and longtime transportation engineer.

Dave Steckel, the MTA’s media liaison, cited an improvement in crime data, but said the gates are only meant to stop track intrusions—not other forms of crime—limited to strap holders falling, or being pushed, onto subway tracks.

As of this summer, there’s no data supporting whether or not the gates are effective, but Steckel says, “Crime in the subways is down...Total major felonies are down.”

The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA said they are happy to see that the MTA’s initiatives are working, calling the platform barriers an “important tool in the toolbox” to keep New Yorkers safe. Still, Associate Director Brian Fritsch says, there’s more PCAC is fighting for.

“Expanding resources for those experiencing homelessness and mental health crises is key to improving the perception of safety underground,” he said. “More and more riders are getting back on transit, and there’s safety in numbers.”

Fritsch said the next big addition to the NYC subway is coming: full-length platform screen doors, to be piloted in three stations around the City to combat fare evasion. There is no confirmed landing date for this project, but the MTA said the plans are underway. Until then, Fritsch said this is a good move in this multi-pronged effort to reduce track intrusions.

“Our subway system should be safe, welcoming and inclusive for all New Yorkers,” said Pearlstein of Riders Alliance. “By reducing the chances that riders will end up on the tracks, for any reason at all, barriers can help make the subway a safer place to be.”