New York City traffic chief Sarah Feinberg blamed the media on Sunday for the low number of subway passengers – claiming that the media had fueled fears about hiring COVID-19 on trains.
“[The subway system] it was really poorly served by the initial coverage of the pandemic, ”said Feinberg, the MTA’s interim traffic president, in an interview with ABC 7, referring to news footage at the time of crowded subway trains.
“So I think people started to think: the last place I want to be is in a crowded subway car,” she said.
Feinberg said the data shows that – despite more than 28,000 COVID-19 deaths in the Big Apple last year – public transport is not a hot spot for the virus to be transmitted.
“Well, moving forward a year, now there has been study after study that shows that the subway system, the transit system, not just in New York, but really everywhere, is really not a place that transmits the virus,” she told the station – without referring to specific studies.
His comments come as the number of subway passengers in New York plummeted this month to about 70 percent in February 2020 and while the number of city buses has dropped 50 percent.
The drop in bracelets also comes amid a series of subway attacks that left two homeless residents dead last week and countless others injured.
Job losses may also be linked to declining passenger numbers – with more than 550,000 New Yorkers losing their jobs last year and others moving to work remotely.
Transit officials, including Feinberg, also made cuts to subway service lines, such as trains C and F, and reduced schedules last year.
A study commissioned by the agency predicted that the number of metro passengers will not return to pre-COVID-19 levels until at least 2024.