NYC Gazette

The COVID-19 pandemic brought an increase in crime to New York City’s subways and buses. The transit system’s employees—especially female workers—have frequently been on the receiving end of attacks, according to a new study published in the Journal of Urban Health.

The study, led by researchers at the NYU School of Global Public Health, found that 89 percent of public-facing transit workers in New York City experienced harassment or violence on the job during the pandemic (2020-2023).

“Transit workers are our city’s unsung heroes—they kept New York City functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it came at a cost to these frontline workers,” said Robyn Gershon, clinical professor of epidemiology at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the study’s senior author. “They not only experienced high rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and even death, but throughout the pandemic they have experienced very high rates of victimization. We hope that providing evidence of the harassment and violence that workers face can lead to better data on transit worker safety and improved policies protecting this vital workforce.”

Since the start of the pandemic, frequent news reports have shed light on violence against New York’s subway and bus workers, but there is little data on the rates at which these incidents occur. Moreover, while crime on the subways has substantially decreased this year—due to efforts by the state, city, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)—attacks against bus drivers and subway workers persist.

Since 2020, Gershon and her research team have been collaborating with the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 to study the impact of COVID-19 among New York City’s transit workers. As part of this research, Gershon and her colleagues surveyed 1,297 public-facing New York City bus and subway workers in late 2023 and early 2024 about their work experiences during the pandemic.

Given the spike in crime on mass transit during this period, they asked workers whether they had dealt with harassment or violence on the job. Specifically, workers were surveyed about their experiences with verbal harassment or intimidation (e.g., offensive language, insults, threats), physical assault (e.g., punching, hitting, spitting, pushing), sexual assault (e.g., groping), sexual harassment (e.g., catcalling), or having something stolen from them.

Nearly nine in ten transit workers—89 percent—reported experiencing some form of victimization on the job. Almost half of all workers surveyed reported verbal harassment or intimidation (48.7 percent) or physical assault (48.6 percent). One in five (20.6 percent) had experienced theft while 6.3 percent reported sexual assault or harassment.

“The proportion of public-facing transit workers who have experienced violence or harassment is remarkably high and far exceeds rates against other workers. For example health care workers are often subject to similar threats but by comparison only 58 percent report experiencing it,” said Gershon.

Notably female transit workers experienced a higher prevalence of physical assault intimidation and sexual assault or harassment than did their male counterparts. Physical assault was more frequently reported by female bus workers while sexual assault or harassment was more often reported by female subway workers.

“Our findings point to greater attention needed for recording and reporting victimization against both bus and subway workers,” said David Vlahov professor at Yale School of Nursing and first author for this study “We need better understanding regarding frequency risk factors related to such violence especially for female staff."

Researchers note survey results may be influenced by volunteer bias where those harassed/assaulted were likelier respondents possibly leading higher incident rates compared overall workforce

Survey captured experiences during pandemic when NYC mass-transit saw heightened violent occurrences; since then state/city/MTA implemented safety measures including increased police presence National Guard deployment tougher criminal charges for assaults added cameras focused conductor cabins support mental health initiatives like relaxation yoga classes introduced TWU Local100 advocating safer conditions

"Despite strides made protecting health/safety much remains ensuring safest workplace dedicated essential workforce," concluded Gershon

Study authors include Daniel Hagen Michael Cziner Alexis Merdjanoff NYU School Global Public Health Martin Sherman Loyola University Research supported National Institute Nursing Research R01NR020174

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