Destroyed Subway Car Windows Contribute to MTA Budget Deficit

A trend in subway window-smashing has cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about $300,000, twice the amount budgeted for these repairs through August, reports Mihir Zaveri. 

Starting early on in the coronavirus lockdown, such vandalization has been sustained and even increased in severity, says Zaveri:

Transportation officials in New York City first began seeing broken windows on subway cars, mostly on the 2, 3 and 7 lines, in April. On one day in mid-July, nearly 50 windows across three 7 trains were smashed. Then this week, the problem seemed to have intensified again: about 60 windows on several 7 trains were found shattered with what officials said was a “blunt instrument."

During a time of widespread financial hardship and an increase in crime and violence, the MTA is contending with an economic difficulty of its own, a $16 billion deficit. 

"Faced with the multibillion-dollar deficit, the agency is eyeing a number of cost-cutting measures that could drastically alter how the city runs its subways, including reducing service, cutting the transit work force, scrapping infrastructure improvements and taking on more debt," writes Zaveri.