New York City is set to close its subway system for four hours every night during the coronavirus pandemic, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has announced.
During his daily briefing on Thursday, Cuomo said that beginning next week, train service will stop from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. each night while every train is disinfected. This, Axios reports, will be the first time that New York's subway system has ended 24-hour service.
"The conditions on the New York City subway system, for a variety of reasons, have rapidly deteriorated," Cuomo said. "...We have now a greater need than ever to disinfect the subways, the buses, and the stations." Essential workers, Cuomo said, "need the public transit system," and "our obligation is to make sure we're doing everything we can do to keep them safe."
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During these cleaning hours, the MTA will provide buses, dollar vans, and for-hire vehicles like Ubers and Lyfts for essential workers at no cost.
"People who need transportation during 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. can have it, will have it, even to the extent of a for-hire vehicle, paid for by the MTA," Cuomo said. He described disinfecting each train every 24 hours as "massive undertaking that we've never done before," but "the right thing to do."
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio (D) remotely joined Cuomo at the briefing to discuss the plan, saying, "It took some disruption to say we're going to do something during this pandemic we've never done before, but it makes sense when it comes to protecting our heroes."
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