NY Daily News
Cut in subway station booth agents has some worried about safety
BY Jeff Wilkins
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Friday, September 18th 2009, 1:20 PM
Lunie Menard of Flatbush is worried crime will rise at her Newkirk Ave. subway stop without the presence of a station agent.
IF YOU SEE something, good luck trying to say something.
Starting Sunday, 17 subway stations across Brooklyn will lose agents because of budget cuts - which didn't make riders happy.
"I'm concerned for my safety," said Flatbush commuter Lunie Menard, 43, when she learned there would no longer be an agent in the booth at her usual entrance to the Newkirk Ave. station in Flatbush.
"If I'm down there by myself and someone's working, at least I know there's two of us," Menard said. "There's safety in numbers. We need more people down there, not less."
The 17 Brooklyn stations that will lose the maroon-vested agents include the Prospect Park and Sheepshead Bay stations along the B and Q lines; the Nevins St. and Brooklyn College stops on the 2 and 5 lines; and three stops along the L line, including Lorimer St. and Graham Ave.
Despite recent fair hikes and a $2.3 billion bailout from the state Legislature in May, the MTA maintained that cutting agents at 86 stations citywide was necessary due to budget constraints.
"The elimination of the station customer assistance program ... is an unfortunate result of tough economic times," said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan in a statement.
"As MTA revenues continue to decline, this year's budget assumed that additional nonservice reductions were necessary."
MTA officials said all affected stations will still have one full-time customer assistance booth. Intercoms will be placed at entrances without agents to patch anyone in need of assistance to the 24-hour booth.
"So I'll have to phone someone at the other end of the station to let them know I'm being mugged," asked Bryan Walker, 33, at the Utica Ave. station in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is also losing an agent. "That makes no sense."
NYC Transit was adamant commuters would be just as safe despite the decrease in agents.
"Safety isn't even a consideration," said Transit spokesman Charles Seaton. "Crime is down at stations across the city. The NYPD is doing a good job of patrolling them."
An agent along the A line speaking on condition of anonymity scoffed at the notion his station will remain as safe when he's forced from his booth.
"We're the eyes and ears of the subway," he said. "We're not police officers but we're trained to help people."
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