Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Safer Subways: Governor Hochul Announces Subway Crime on Track to Reach Lowest Levels in a Generation in 2025

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York City Subway is on track for its safest year in a generation. With two weeks left in 2025, subway crime is at the lowest level in 16 years: overall major crime in the transit system is down 5.2 percent from 2024 and 14.4 percent from 2019. Accounting for increases in ridership, there have been 1.65 major crimes per million riders in 2025, down roughly 30 percent from 2021 and comparable to pre-pandemic lows. In 2022, Governor Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced a shared commitment to keep subway riders safe, and in each of the following four years, the rate of crime per rider has fallen. This year is on pace to be the second safest non-pandemic year in the subway system in recorded history, eclipsed only by 2009.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr has photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 I'm so proud to be standing here with our extraordinary Commissioner of Police, Jessica Tisch, who's going to give you some remarks about the progress that has been made and what we're planning for the future. So I want to thank her for a year on the job, is that right? What a year it has been and the numbers do not lie.

And we're going to be talking about incredible, incredible improvements in the safety in the subway, just in that one year. Also, I want to thank the leader of this organization, our CEO and chair of the MTA, Janno Lieber and I cannot say enough about what he has done to restore rider's faith in the MTA when it was really brought to its knees just a few years ago.

And we faced really a triple threat at the time when ridership was down during the pandemic. And crime was up and it was just this strong unease. So I want to thank him for doing everything he can. You've been a great proponent of a very ambitious capital plan, and I thank you for also leading the charge on congestion pricing, which is certainly getting recognition all over the nation.

We have our MTA security officer, Michael Kemper here. NYPD Chief of Transit, Joe Gulotta, and also our MTA Chief of Police, Thomas Taffe. So there's no one who knows this city, loves this city, experiences this city who doesn't have an appreciation and understanding how essential the MTA is, our subway system and our bus systems in particular.

And so we think about where we've come from. Four years ago when I took office, this vital circulatory system as I've mentioned was under a triple threat, safety was a major concern. People were terrified to go in the subway, there were high profile incidents that blared across the news and on television every night.

So ridership plummeted, fear around the pandemic, but also just fear for safety — but also we were going off a fiscal cliff at the same time. Those are the bad old days, these were very serious challenges, but we leaned into them undaunted. We knew the only way at the moment was to fight back, and that's exactly what we did.

We had to find creative solutions to these challenges. So let's fast forward from the dark days four years ago to where we are today. The MTA did not go off the fiscal cliff, in fact it's on very steady financial grounds. It's absolutely incredible that we stabilize the MTA operating expenses, but also could engage in a $68 billion capital plan.

Subway ridership is up nearly 8% this year with nearly 1.3 billion rides taken to date. And just last week on December 11th, we broke our post pandemic ridership record for the third time in weeks, with 4.65 million riders in one day. I did not expect to see those numbers anytime soon and the people are coming back.

Most importantly this is the one I focus on, subway crime statistics. Subway crime is at its lowest level it has been in 16 years, and that's even as ridership continues to climb. Overall crime in our transit system has dropped almost 15% since 2019, lower than 2019. And that was a time when people didn't talk about subway crime the way they had over the more previous years.

And again since I took office in 2021, the number of crimes per rider has gone down 30%. In fact, 2025 is on pace to be the second safest year in our subways eclipsed only by one year, [2009]. So it doesn't happen by accident, it's years of sustained effort working in partnership with City Hall and the NYPD. Extraordinary individuals who stand there every single day, keeping a watchful eye ready to deter criminals and go after those in the act of committing a crime.

What we talked about, when we launched this with Mayor Adams, and I want to give him a lot of credit as well for what we were doing back in 2022 — we had cops, cameras, and care. What did that mean? First of all, we had a surge of police officers into the subway. We needed that visible presence, that calming presence that a man or woman in uniform brings when people see them on the platforms or on the trains, or in our stations. But at the same time, we had to really focus on our mental health outreach in the subway, so individuals experiencing a crisis are not relegated to living in the subways. And I declared that our subway trains should not be rolling homeless shelters either — that we took people in a compassionate way and got them care.

So far, our outreach teams have helped nearly 1,000 New Yorkers. Helped them with long-term care — people who had otherwise been homeless, living here for many years. They're now in permanent housing. But also we had our cops, we had our care, but also the cameras.

We talked about this. We decided that if we had cameras everywhere, we could keep an eye. They'd be vigilant to know what is happening, to be able to solve crimes after they occur. But also when riders know there's a camera, I think it has a suppressant effect on bad behavior. So, we've had over 33,000 cameras across the entire system, at least one in every single subway car. So, it’s easier to catch the criminals and hold them accountable. And we've added cameras to our conductor cabs where they have been assaulted. They are vulnerable sitting there to make sure that they feel secure on the job.

But also, what have we done underground? Let's take a look at our platforms. All 472 stations are on pace to be outfitted with brighter LED lighting by the end of this year, I would go down the subways and say, “Why is it so dark and dreary here?” It feels like we're in a cave. Let there be light, let there be brightness. Makes you feel more secure. And we're almost completing that process in just a couple more weeks. There's not a lot of time left in the year, Janno. I just want to point that out because I'm saying we're going to hit all 472, so maybe we should go change a few light bulbs while we're here today.

But our platforms as well, think about how people felt so insecure when you saw those high profile stories of someone literally being shoved into a train, onto the tracks — that is a deep rooted fear. And so we decided that if we had platform barriers, that someone could stand behind, a mom with her children, a senior citizen — just gives you that sense of security that you're going to be safe while you're waiting for your ride to come, your train to come. So now platform barriers have been installed at 115 stations. Last year in my State of the State said our goal is to hit 100 by the end of the year. 115 already accomplished, and we're just getting started.

So, we know these efforts are working. The numbers speak for themselves. I will always stand here and say, one crime is one too many. This is not a celebration moment, but is a continuation what we know is working. Because every headline, every story, every time there's even one incident, it does create that sense of insecurity, which we want to alleviate.

So, people need to know they're safe and if something works we're going to stick with it, which is why I want to talk about something we've done. Never in the history of the State has the State of New York invested money in NYPD overtime, but we knew the city needed our help, and I could not turn my back on this lifeline for our entire region. So, when people feel safer with officers on board, we said we're going to do it again. So today I'm announcing we are committing another $77 million, so that the NYPD can maintain its presence on the subway platforms. These funds will support over 600 officers per day and keep riders safe and surge patrols when they're most needed at the discretion of our Police Commissioner to help cover overtime for those who are doing above and beyond, and make sure that people can ride the subways without fear.

So, we're going to continue making these investments in people and placements and infrastructure so that at the end of the day, we know that our healthcare workers are going to get home safely — people in the entertainment field, hospitality coming home late at night will have that sense of comfort and ease, and our teachers and construction workers who ride our subways before dawn will know that they'll get there safely. This is why we'll never stop fighting — never stop fighting for the safety and security of all New Yorkers. And it's right here underground. I’m really proud of these accomplishments and to further amplify them and talk about what the NYPD has done. And again, I congratulate them and thank them, and up next is our great Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch.