Transit Workers Say MTA Too Slow to Protect Subway Cabs

An MTA 1 train operator 1 pulls into the 50th Street station, Dec. 6, 2024. -Photo by Alex Krales/THE CITY

Following alarming break-ins and attacks on conductors and operators, agency heads promised action at the beginning of the year — but there’s little to show for it. 

This article originally appeared in The City. 

By Jose Martinez

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NEW YORK - Nearly a year after the MTA pledged to make quick fixes to prevent vandals from breaking into train crew cabs, subway cars on only three lines have upgraded locks on worker compartments, according to the agency.

Agency numbers reveal that among the entire subway fleet of more than 6,400 train cars, only those that run on the 1, 3 and 6 lines have upgraded locks for train operator and conductor cabs.

Meanwhile, lock upgrades for worker cabs on the troubled No. 7 are undergoing a “continued review” in the wake of recent incidents along the line, said Kayla Shults, an MTA spokesperson.

There are 506 cars along the No. 7 line that extends between Flushing, Queens and 34th Street-Hudson Yards in Manhattan.

“If you’re a criminal or a nuisance passenger and you see that you’re getting away with pretty much lawlessness on a certain line, why would you go anywhere else?” Canella Gomez, a vice president with Transport Workers Union Local 100, told THE CITY. “The 7 line is the wild wild west.”

The union is pressing the MTA to immediately install additional deadbolt locks on all subway train crew cabs in the wake of a November video that showed a transit troublemaker on a No. 7 line platform swiping a conductor’s keys through an open window as the worker tried to stop another vandal from forcing his way into her cab.

“They’re stealing the keys, they’re using the keys, they’re assaulting train crews,” said Gomez, who represents conductors and train operators. “At this point, it’s become painfully obvious that the MTA is dragging their feet and not moving as quickly as they should be.”

In January, the then-president of New York City Transit, Richard Davey, committed to a “simple and fast solution that we can implement in weeks, not months or years” in order to stop vandals from making off with keys, workers’ belongings and in some instances, even taking out-of-service trains on joyrides.

It’s unclear how much work has actually been completed, with union leaders saying little has been done. But the alarming incidents continue, with some ending up on social media.

In September, the NYPD said two trespassers took an unoccupied train for a 50-yard spin in before bumping into another out-of-service train at the Briarwood subway stop in Queens. Last December, police said a group slipped into a train that was on storage tracks at the Forest Hills-71st Avenue station, also in Queens, and moved it a short distance.

‘Losing All Faith’

Davey, the former head of New York City Transit, said after the December 2023 break-in that the agency planned to add a second lock to the cabs or reverse keyholes within the first quarter of this year, while also looking for long-term security measures that could include biometric technology that recognizes unique physical characteristics.

The MTA could not say how many train car cabs received upgrades to their locks in the first three months of the year.

But union leaders say the transit agency has not done enough to address a critical safety issue, leaving train operators and conductors vulnerable.

“I can honestly say that, at this point, I am losing all faith that the MTA is willing to do anything other than make sure the trains move,” Gomez said. 

Davey’s successor, Demetrius Crichlow, told THE CITY in September that the MTA, in cooperation with the NYPD, did a “full evaluation” of a new lock mechanism for train car doors, but noted that there is no timetable for putting it in place.

“It would be an additional lock to what’s out there,” he said. “So we have a design in place, it’s just a matter of getting the actual parts and starting installs.”

Shults, the MTA spokesperson, said further updates “will be available in coming months.”

For former subway train operator Ty Jeter, who was roughed up in January 2022 after an angry man kicked in the door to her cab on a No. 6 train in The Bronx, any safety upgrades will be too late.

Jeter told THE CITY that she was let go for medical reasons in January after declining to go back to operating trains.

“I really feel for the people that are out there,” she said. “I don’t think people realize how dangerous it is.”

Jeter said she knows of transit workers who have resorted to crafting their own protective barriers out of wood to keep would-be invaders out of train cabs.

“Why do people have to do that to feel safe?” Jeter said. “There should be something in place to allow people to feel safe and to be the best employee they can be.”

Gomez said the MTA needs to back up its earlier pledge to worker safety by strengthening the locks on the trains.

“It’s almost like they’re waiting for another Train Operator Jeter-like situation where someone is almost killed or has to fight for their life before they decide to move and do anything,” he said.