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MTA says subway camera plan is on track, but not in time for F train killing
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published May 5, 2023
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By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published May 5, 2023
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The MTA’s plan to install surveillance cameras in every subway car is on schedule, but most cars — including the F train car Jordan Neely was riding in when a fellow passenger placed him in a deadly chokehold — still do not have the devices, according to the MTA and others familiar with the project.
The undertaking was launched in 2022 as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Subway Action Plan, which promised to install two surveillance cameras in each of the city's 6,455 subway cars over three years with the aim of helping New Yorkers feel safer. It came months after a gunman opened fire on a busy subway car and MTA cameras at a nearby station malfunctioned.
With questions swirling around the events leading up to Neely's killing, subway camera footage could have shed some light on what happened. But outfitting the country’s largest transit system with the new technology will take time. While the MTA is on schedule to complete the project by its 2025 target, the installation is not as straightforward as it might seem.
“When I say we’re on schedule, it’s a process,” said MTA spokesperson Tim Minton.
After testing multiple models of cameras and assessing what technology would work best in the transit system, the MTA was able to order those models in bulk, Minton said.
Then, those thousands of cameras had to be delivered. Installation could only begin after all of that, and the process is currently unfolding and undergoing evaluation beneath the city's sidewalks.
The number of trains that currently have cameras was not immediately clear, pending a report from the MTA.
“It would not be accurate to say ‘they’ve got 6,000 subway cars, they’re going to put cameras in each car’... 12,000 cameras, 2025, three years,” Minton said. “It doesn’t work that way.”
At this point, the only subway cars guaranteed to be outfitted with cameras belong to the MTA's newest fleet: the R211 trains, which are being delivered with cameras installed. Currently, just one R211 train is in service and taking passengers.
All other trains will be retrofitted with the camera devices. In total, the 13,000 cameras will cost $5.5 million.
The MTA already has 10,000 cameras in each of its 472 subway stations.
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subway cameras
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
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