Overnight Subway Shutdowns Aren't Solving The Homelessness Crisis

Plus: Planes are grounded, but carbon emissions aren't dropping. Why? [View this email in your browser]( Overnight Subway Evictions Have Begun. They're Not Solving The Subway Homelessness Crisis. Plus: The city is adding two more miles of pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly streets. Our interactive map shows where people are still using the subway. And with this massive drop in car and airplane travel, why aren't carbon emissions falling? By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) [an essential worker with a surgical mask stands in front of a subway station pole with a sign that says the subway is closed for cleaning] Scott Heins/Gothamis At around midnight on Wednesday, more than 1,000 NYPD officers descended into the transit system to evict people from the subways. And they'll be doing so every night between now and whenever Gov. Andrew Cuomo says it's time for overnight train service to resume. The ostensible reason for the shutdowns is to enable crews to deep-clean the subways — something that's still [a work in progress](. Footage provided by the MTA showed workers in hazmat suits using advanced disinfecting methods on a Q train, while cleaners at the World Trade Center station were seen using spray bottles and paper towels. "The thing this time period allows us to do is to test a lot of new products and dispensers and tools," interim NYC Transit chief Sara Feinberg [told WNYC's Brian Lehrer]( this morning. "If I can give our cleaners a backpack dispenser that sprays, and doesn't require them to spend many hours bending over and standing up — we're doing a lot of that as well." But the primary motivation for the shutdowns, according to some transit workers and advocates for the homeless, is to rid the subway system of the homeless people who seek refuge on the trains. It's something the governor, who referred last week to photos of subway homelessness as "[disgusting]( had already [vowed to crack down on](. On the first night the shutdowns, about 2,000 homeless people were cleared from the transit system, according to the NYPD. About 250 of them had extended interactions with outreach workers, and 139 individuals were ultimately moved to shelters or safe havens. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has also been adamant about getting homeless New Yorkers off the subways, seemed encouraged. "We have never seen so much success in a single night before," the mayor said yesterday. "We've never seen this high a percentage of people living on the streets agree to something different." However, about 90% of the homeless people kicked off the trains then returned in the morning. And many of the individuals Gothamist and WNYC encountered said they're refusing to enter shelters, which they viewed as unsafe even before the pandemic. One 83-year-old rider said he now feared that shelters are "[full of the virus]( All of this points to what has become [a lingering existential question for the MTA]( Since homeless people spend time on trains — which is perfectly legal — should it be a transit agency's responsibility to solve the homelessness crisis? [two NYPD officers remove two men off a subway train for the first night of overnight shutdowns] Scott Heins/Gothamist "Look, I'm a transportation expert and a public policy and government expert. Unfortunately I'm not an expert on homeless outreach and social services," Feinberg told Brian Lehrer. "Our argument from the beginning has been, we are an agency that offers transportation. We're the biggest transportation agency in North America. All we can pull off every day is to get millions of people — in regular times — to and from work and school and home safely. "I'm told by experts," she continued, "that it frequently requires many, many conversations with an individual to coax them into, 'Let's try a shelter. Let's try a safe haven. Let's take a hotel room for the night.'" Indeed, the latter has become the leading [suggestion from advocates]( Put as many homeless individuals as possible into the city's [30,000 vacant hotel rooms]( where they could practice proper social distancing and safe hygiene. But so far, the city is only moving people into hotel rooms [if they'd been in a crowded shelter]( — those living on the subways or the streets aren't being offered hotel rooms. "I don't want to force people to go anywhere they don't want to go," Feinberg said. "But we have to have a city that steps up on this. The answer cannot be, 'Because you don't want to go to a shelter because the shelter system isn't safe, you will live in the subway system.' It's not fair to these people. It should not be where you land because you've gone through a financial crisis or a health crisis or you're struggling with mental illness." Hear Feinberg's [entire conversation]( with Brian Lehrer, and read Gothamist and WNYC's [complete coverage of the subway shutdowns](. Map Shows Which Parts Of The City Are Most Relying On The Subway During The Pandemic Zach Gottehrer-Cohen/Gothamist/WNYC Overall subway ridership has fallen by 90% since the start of the pandemic. But depending on where in the system you're boarding a train, it doesn't necessarily feel that desolate. In many parts of the Bronx, for example, turnstiles are still seeing about 35% of the swipes they normally would. [Our interactive map]( of station-by-station data from May 1st shows a clear overlap between areas with high poverty rates and areas where people are still taking the train, further suggesting that essential workers are overwhelmingly low-paid. — map compiled by Zach Gottehrer-Cohen Starting Today, Two More Miles Of City Streets Are Open To Pedestrians And Cyclists [a man in a face mask walks two dogs down Grand Concourse in the Bronx] David "Dee" Delgado/Gothamist [The new car-free zones]( include a large stretch in the Lower East Side, sections of the Flatiron and Garment Districts, a small part of Downtown Brooklyn, a few blocks in the Bronx, and a part of Jackson Heights. This brings the city's total number of pedestrian-friendly miles to nine — seven miles were opened up last weekend, mainly on streets adjacent to parks. The mayor has vowed to open at least 40 miles worth of car-free roads by the start of the summer, with the goal of ultimately reaching 100 miles in total. "Is this a moment to rethink how we get away from too much dependence on cars?" Mayor de Blasio said yesterday. "The answer is yes. We need to see this as a transformational moment, even with all the pain, even with all the challenges, we are not going to bring New York City back the way it was. We're going to bring it back in some ways that are different and better." As the city continues to open streets for pedestrians to go outside while social distancing, the mayor did say on Thursday that he may begin limited the amount of people allowed in city parks, in order to prevent overcrowding. He didn't specify which parks would be affected, but said he'd provide more information Friday morning. — Reporting by Ben Yakas and Brigid Bergin Here's What Else Is Happening A driver in a Cadillac SUV hit and killed a 72-year-old cyclist in the East Village on Tuesday morning. The cyclist was riding on East 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A when a 33-year-old driver backed into a parking space and hit her. The driver remained at the scene, and a police investigation is ongoing. This was the third cyclist fatality on city streets this year. All three deaths have involved a truck or SUV. ([Gothamist]( Author and MTA subway conductor Sujatha Gidla, who tested positive for the coronavirus, argues that transit workers have been treated as sacrificial. "We essential workers — workers in general — are the ones who keep the social order from sinking into chaos," she wrote in an op-ed for the Times. "Yet we are treated with the utmost disrespect, as though we’re expendable." ([The New York Times]( This drop in car and airplane travel is not doing much to curb carbon emissions. The smog over L.A. has lifted, the whales are returning to Vancouver, and the world is still on pace to release 95% of the CO2 that's emitted in a non-pandemic year. That's because transportation — SUVs, private jets, gas-guzzling yachts, etc. — accounts for 20% of the world's carbon emissions. The biggest chunk — 40% — comes from electricity and heating, and the rest comes from manufacturing, construction, and other industries. Air pollution from [idling cars]( is bad, but that's not what's causing global warming. ([Grist]( Between low gas prices and the ease and safety of working from home, will suburbanites ever return to commuter rail trains? Across the country, commuter rail lines have seen bigger ridership drops than buses and subways. And when cities start to reopen, it's unclear if rush-hour passengers will return, since many are more affluent white-collar workers who own cars, and mostly take the train to avoid traffic. It's possible that commuter rail lines will, in turn, start focusing more on off-peak service, which is more useful for essential workers and travelers who don't have cars. ([CityLab]( [the logo for WQXR's Classical Commute playlist] Like many fans of love, I'd been looking forward to May and the kickoff of wedding season. Instead, I'm at home listening to Prokofiev's "Wedding Suite" on the WQXR Classical Commute playlist. You can, too. [It's streaming for free on Spotify](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of May 8th – Early Morning on May 11th This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. train service between 96 St and 148 St will be replaced by trains and M7 and M102 buses. On Saturday and Sunday, Flushing-bound trains will skip 82 St, 90 St, 103 St and 111 St. train service between 168 St and 207 St will be replaced by free shuttle buses and nearby trains. On Saturday and Sunday, trains will skip 50 St, 23 St and Spring St in both directions. On Saturday and Sunday, Jamaica-bound trains will skip Avenue U, Avenue P, Avenue N, Bay Pkwy and Avenue I. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. [a portrait of James Ramsay] James Ramsay has added Sujatha Gidla's book, [Ants Among Elephants]( to his quarantine reading list. (Photo by Amy Pearl) Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential transportation coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](