arrow Times Square subway station, May 3rd, 2021 Andrew H Walker/Shutterstock
Despite suffering from the highest number of COVID deaths at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, subway and bus workers have the lowest vaccination rate of its employees.
Just 37% of workers at New York City Transit, the MTA Bus Company, and Staten Island Railway have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the authority’s recordkeeping. The MTA said it only keeps tabs of staff who receive shots during work hours or who self-report taking a dose elsewhere in the city.
New York City Transit comprises the MTA’s largest workforce with 50,696 employees. Only 18,980 of them have taken one dose. COVID-19 has killed 162 people at the MTA to date, and 151 of those deaths involved subway and bus workers. Transit workers were among the earliest groups to be eligible for the vaccine in January.
MTA/TWU spar with de Blasio after mayor denies subway crime spike, blames Cuomo
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The MTA and Transit Workers Union are calling on New York City to deploy additional NYPD officers and mental health resources to the subway system following a spate of recent attacks on transit workers, one that they say Mayor Bill de Blasio is denying exists.
That includes three incidents on Wednesday and two more Thursday, including one in which a conductor was knocked unconscious and another where an off-duty worker was slashed in the face and remains in critical condition.
The conductor had smelled cigarette smoke on a 2 train between 238th Street and Nereid Avenue in the Wakefield section of the Bronx around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Back on track.
The city subway will resume 24 hour-a-day service beginning May 17, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week.
The resumption of 24-hour service will coincide with Cuomo’s announcement lifting the 12 a.m. food and beverage service curfew for outdoor dining areas.
Beginning May 6, 2020, New York City Transit closed for disinfection from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided free alternative transportation options to essential workers during the overnight hours that included a significant expansion of bus service across the city and for-hire vehicles as necessary.
On Feb. 15, Cuomo announced that the MTA would partially restore overnight service on the New York City subway, pending continued positive trends in New York’s COVID indicators. Effective Monday, Feb. 22, the MTA extended late-night subway service by two hours, moving to a 2 a.m. – 4 a.m. closure daily.
Schumer should explore mass transit newsday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Public transit agencies have to work out how to win passengers back Autoblog 2 hrs ago Associated Press
WASHINGTON Taking the Los Angeles Metro for his first trip in months, Brad Hudson felt a moment of normalcy when the train rolled into the South Pasadena, California, station, harkening back to his daily commute into LA before the coronavirus pandemic.
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Then Hudson boarded the train, and reality set in.
Not everyone wore masks. Metro staffing levels appeared much lighter, with more trash on the trains.
“I don’t feel at risk for COVID, because I’m vaccinated and I mask,” said Hudson, a child psychologist. But he felt security was worse now he said a passenger shouted at him for no apparent reason and, on a subsequent ride, a man entered a train car with a large knife strapped to his leg.