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I have to admit that while I never believed the hysteria of “crime ridden cities” and my wife and I started traveling a lot post Covid - including “crime ridden

I have to admit that while I never believed the hysteria of “crime ridden cities” and my wife and I started traveling a lot post Covid - including “crime ridden” [sic] places like Seattle and San Francisco - I have to admit that I always thought the subway system in NYC would be some dystopian nightmare. When I went there in 2023 during the US Open, we rode the subway everywhere and I didn’t feel the least bit nervous.

drekipus 2y ago
Police vigilance rises during special events. It's not an ever day occurrence
susodapop 2y ago
As a NYC resident and white man, I found the subway broadly safe from _violent_ crime. My female and/or asian friends had significantly worse experiences: some were grabbed, others followed, some verbally harassed. It's not a dystopian nightmare — at the end of the day everyone just has somewhere to be — but regular ridership (particularly in Brooklyn and Queens) increments the bad experience counter regularly.
peterbonney 2y ago
Thank you. The New York City subway has its issues, but most of them boil down to the fact that the system is really old and hard to modernize. It also has unique strengths arising from the extreme population density and the inherent 24/7-ness of NYC (not to mention Manhattan's unique geography) but people don't talk about them as much as its flaws. If your only reference point is transit in other US cities it's hard to grasp how different the NYC subway experience is, at least in Manhattan. Trains come every 5-10 minutes even at off-peak hours, and it's almost always busy. It's just not a very conducive environment for crime, unless you're riding in the middle of the night and/or at the tail ends of the system where density is lower. When it comes to thinking about my own personal safety, I don't worry about crime on the subway, I worry about getting hit by a truck or e-bike rider.
add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
Living in fear is a choice. There's many ways to interpret crime statistics and the one you choose is often a reflection of yourself more so than the situation.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  This is just like some people feel they have to carry a gun to protect themselves. I have never in 50 years thought that I would feel safer if I carried a gun. Now I have thought about getting one for my home briefly and if I lived in a less safe area of an isolated area pI would have one at home.
JohnTHaller 2y ago
I've lived in NYC since 1996. I still take the subway after midnight every week. The biggest crime I've seen since the pandemic was someone lighting up a joint. Stories about the crime ridden subways have the same ring of truth to them as Fox News' reporting on cities 'burning to the ground' from their midtown NYC offices on a sunny day when I was walking to the park. Or Trump labeling NYC an 'anarchist jurisdiction'. NYC has a population of 8.3 million people. If NYC was a state, it'd be the 13th most populous. It has as many people as Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. It's easy to pretend crime is high when you forget about "per capita".

drekipus 2y ago

Police vigilance rises during special events. It's not an ever day occurrence

susodapop 2y ago

As a NYC resident and white man, I found the subway broadly safe from _violent_ crime. My female and/or asian friends had significantly worse experiences: some were grabbed, others followed, some verbally harassed. It's not a dystopian nightmare — at the end of the day everyone just has somewhere to be — but regular ridership (particularly in Brooklyn and Queens) increments the bad experience counter regularly.

peterbonney 2y ago

Thank you. The New York City subway has its issues, but most of them boil down to the fact that the system is really old and hard to modernize. It also has unique strengths arising from the extreme population density and the inherent 24/7-ness of NYC (not to mention Manhattan's unique geography) but people don't talk about them as much as its flaws. If your only reference point is transit in other US cities it's hard to grasp how different the NYC subway experience is, at least in Manhattan. Trains come every 5-10 minutes even at off-peak hours, and it's almost always busy. It's just not a very conducive environment for crime, unless you're riding in the middle of the night and/or at the tail ends of the system where density is lower. When it comes to thinking about my own personal safety, I don't worry about crime on the subway, I worry about getting hit by a truck or e-bike rider.

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago

Living in fear is a choice. There's many ways to interpret crime statistics and the one you choose is often a reflection of yourself more so than the situation.

scarface_74 2y ago
This is just like some people feel they have to carry a gun to protect themselves. I have never in 50 years thought that I would feel safer if I carried a gun. Now I have thought about getting one for my home briefly and if I lived in a less safe area of an isolated area pI would have one at home.

JohnTHaller 2y ago

I've lived in NYC since 1996. I still take the subway after midnight every week. The biggest crime I've seen since the pandemic was someone lighting up a joint. Stories about the crime ridden subways have the same ring of truth to them as Fox News' reporting on cities 'burning to the ground' from their midtown NYC offices on a sunny day when I was walking to the park. Or Trump labeling NYC an 'anarchist jurisdiction'. NYC has a population of 8.3 million people. If NYC was a state, it'd be the 13th most populous. It has as many people as Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. It's easy to pretend crime is high when you forget about "per capita".