New York City Councilman Rafael Espinal is fighting the good fight on behalf of all New Yorkers by working to legally require the MTA to run 24-hour service in order to receive funding. The Regional Plan Association recently recommended suspending around-the-clock service so the MTA can make some much (like, very much) needed repairs. If their recommendation was to go through, there would be no overnight service Monday through Thursday.
Kind of a wack move for the city that never sleeps, no?
This raises some obvious concerns for shift workers and the some 85,000 commuters who rely on nighttime subway service between the hours of 12:30 and 5 a.m. As Espinal notes, “This proposal would hurt NYC’S nighttime economy, further pollute air quality because of increased demand on taxis, and hurt middle income and lower income earners who are likely working the night shift.”
Even MTA Chairman Joe Lhota called the the proposed closures “a bit draconian," and Mayor Bill DeBlasio called 24-hour service a “birthright.” Preach, fellas. Preach.
Riders arguably put up with enough from the MTA as it is. “Our transit service is already bad enough, and there should be no talk of scaling it back further, especially when other cities like London are creating 24-hour services for the first time,” says Councilman Espinal. “While I commend the current MTA leadership and the Mayor for rejecting the idea to close the subways at night, we must ensure that this remains the standard policy now and in the future.”
In any case, it’s likely safe to say that no one taking the F train at 3:30 a.m. on a Tuesday is doing so for fun.
