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City Hall Employees Offered Travel Buddies As Subway Safety Debate Rages
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published May 10, 2021
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Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published May 10, 2021
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New York City public employees fearful of riding the subway to work will soon be paired with a commuting buddy, under a new initiative quietly floated by the de Blasio administration last month.
The Community Travel Partner Program comes as some 80,000 municipal office workers are set to begin a staggered return to the office on Monday, a key step in the city's plans to fully reopen this summer.
In an email sent on April 30th, City Hall workers were offered "the opportunity to be connected with local fellow employees, who may feel unsafe commuting to and from work on their own."
Other municipal employees who work for city agencies will be eligible for travel partners in the coming weeks, according to a mayoral spokesperson, who declined to say how many workers had signed up for a buddy.
The existence of the program was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, and follows a renewed focus on crime and safety in the transit system.
After Governor Andrew Cuomo repeatedly derided the subway as dangerous and filthy last week, de Blasio accused him of "fear-mongering," while pointing out that major felony crimes are down more than 50% in the system since last year. Late last week, the city agreed to add auxiliary police officers to the 20 busiest stations.
"I've never seen anything like it, people constantly saying something isn't safe when it is," the mayor told WNYC's Brian Lehrer on Friday. "I've ridden the subways. Many folks in my life ride the subways all the time. They're overwhelmingly safe."
Officials in the Governor's Office quickly seized on the travel buddy initiative as evidence of the mayor's hypocrisy on subway safety. “You’re telling me the city’s left hand doesn’t know what it’s right hand is doing?" Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo, told the Wall Street Journal. "In that administration? No way!”
In a statement, mayoral spokesperson Mitch Schwartz said the effort was intended to "make our colleagues feel comfortable after a year away from the office. Leadership like that is what brings a city back – not spreading the untruths and scare tactics we’ve seen from Albany.”
The travel program has also generated mixed reactions among municipal workers. While one agency staffer described the program as "bizarre" and unnecessary, another city worker deemed it "not a terrible idea."
"This subway kind of sucks now," the second worker told Gothamist. "I hope people start taking it again."
Tagged
we the commuters
governor cuomo
subway crime
mayor de blasio
subway
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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