Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Should MTA Spend Over $1 Billion To Install Platform Safety Doors, Or Use LASERS?
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 29, 2013
Modified Jan 29, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Courtesy Pearce_Pics on Flickr
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 29, 2013
Modified Jan 29, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
At a public meeting yesterday, the MTA's acting executive director, Thomas Prendergast, gave what he called a "lowball" figure for installing sliding platform safety doors throughout the transit system: $1 billion. Although the MTA is considering it, and will even run a pilot program to test the sliding doors on the L line, Prendergrast is cool to the idea. "If you look at it in terms of order of magnitude costs and what it would compete against in terms of other safety improvements, it’s a difficult argument," he said.
And while there's a growing perception that more people are being killed or injured by subway trains, the statistics tell a different story. Last year people were struck by subway trains 141 times. 55 of them died. Of those incidents 51 were people who "contacted a moving train while on the platform," 54 were incidents were a passenger was "stuck on the tracks," 33 were suicides or attempted suicides and three were cases were a customer fell between cars. (On average, 7% of NYC suicides are subway related.)
Looking back to 2003, 188 people were struck by trains—more than last year. The deaths were higher in 2003‐37 fatalities compared to 55 last year—there were also 275 million more passenger trips in 2012 than in '03. So statistically speaking, the notion that we're experiencing a dramatic spike in subway deaths and injuries is inaccurate: in 2003, 136 riders per 1 billion were hit by a train. But in 2012, there were 85 train strikes for every 1 billion rides.
The Wall Street Journal also cautions that "the rate of death is volatile, easily driven up or down by individual incidents. For instance, more than 40 fewer people were struck by trains in 2011 compared to the recent high watermark of 2003. But 10 more of those people died." The MTA likens the odds of getting hit by a subway train to the odds of getting hit by lightning.
But the question remains: should the MTA spend over a billion dollars to install sliding safety doors on every platform in the system? Or perhaps a smaller amount should be spent to install laser sensors on platforms that would trigger alarms when someone winds up on the tracks? Or, even cheaper, the PSA campaign the MTA is rolling out? In other words, how much is too much to pay to prevent 40-50 deaths a year?
Gothamist publisher and noted public policy theoretician Jake Dobkin would like to point out that the average human life is worth about $7MM for the purpose of government cost/benefit calculations. "Without these doors these deaths will continue forever—what's the net present value of 50 deaths a year?" Dobkin wonders. "One way of thinking about is as a perpetuity, which would be equal to (50 * 7MM) / .05 (the .05 is a discount rate, reflecting the decline in future value of money.) That would value the total benefit of saving the lives at $7BB, which is clearly a lot more than $1BB, the cost. So it's definitely a project that should be completed—these platform gates would pay for themselves."
Tagged
MTA
safety
subway
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NJ Gov. Sherrill: Election is secure, noncitizens taken off voter rolls
The governor made the comments in the October edition of "Ask Governor Sherrill" on WNYC.
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published Oct 27, 2026 at 7:42 p.m. ET
Ex-NYPD officer again faces murder charge in George Washington Bridge shooting
The charge against him was upgraded following an “extensive investigation,” the DA’s office said.
By
Samantha Max
News
Ex-NYPD officer again faces murder charge in George Washington Bridge shooting
The charge against him was upgraded following an “extensive investigation,” the DA’s office said.
By
Samantha Max
Former NYC buildings boss helped reopen mayor's favored restaurant despite health violations
By
David Brand
1 killed, 4 others injured at Elizabeth, NJ vigil shooting
By
Catalina Gonella
Police arrest man in Queens stabbings that ended with officer shooting woman
By
Ryan Kost
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .