Work Cited: Safety Place

As the coronavirus engulfed New York City early last year, Adrienne Crespo, a subway conductor, watched the crowds on the platforms slowly thin out. Then one afternoon, she pulled an A train into the West Fourth Street Washington Square station  typically one of the busiest on her line  and saw only two people board. To look out there at rush hour and see nobody, it finally hit me, Ms. Crespo, 49, said. It was actually scary. I thought, ‘Wow, this is bad. This is really, really bad. A year ago the pandemic drained the subway of nearly all its riders, sickened thousands of New York City transit workers and plunged North America’s largest public transit agency into its worst financial emergency ever. Today ridership on the subway has crept back up to about a third of its usual levels, from an all time low of 7 percent last spring. An infusion of billions of dollars in federal aid has kept the Metropolitan Transportation Authority afloat. And the agency, which operates the subway, buses and two commuter rail lines, was further lifted by another 6 billion in President Biden’s sweeping rescue plan Continue reading the main story But the MTA long-term survival depends on the return of riders and their fares, which make up the agency’s largest funding source. Nearly 40 percent of the agency’s operating revenue comes from fares, a higher percentage than almost any other major American transit system.