Despite the coronavirus pandemic, some New Yorkers are still piling on to crowded subway cars and buses to get to work every day.

“People have got to use common sense,” said New York City Transit Interim President Sarah E. Feinberg. “If the train that you’re on is getting crowded, get off at the next stop and wait for the next one.”

Feinberg says that recent pictures and videos of crowded cars on the subway are “isolated incidents.”

“We do believe that these incidents are pretty sporadic and quite short-lived,” Feinberg said.

Service has been significantly reduced for the subway, due to many New Yorkers staying home and a record number of MTA workers calling out sick. As of March, ridership on the city’s subways, buses and commuter railroads had plummeted more than 80 percent.


New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez is calling for the MTA to run more trains and bring retired workers back to fill in the gaps from workers who are sick but Feinberg said the idea simply is not safe.