This year’s dramatic drop in subway ridership due to the COVID-19 crisis has not been accompanied by a similar drop in subway crime, the latest data shows.
NYPD stats released by the MTA Friday show 22 felony assaults on the subways last month — a tiny drop from 24 felony assaults last September.
Despite ridership down 70 percent or more throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, overall felonies are only down 24 percent year-over-year in the transit system — and the number of murders, rapes and burglaries have all increased.
Where the system saw two murders through September 2019, there were five over the same period in 2020. Rapes increased from three to five. Burglaries jumped from five last year to 22 this year.
But robberies and grand larcenies dropped 35 percent and 66 percent, respectively, this September compared to last.
Subway ridership in September was around 1.4 million people per day, according to MTA stats — compared to more than 5 million per day pre-pandemic.
The crime wave has continued into October, even as ridership has crept closer to 2 million.
On Friday, a man who appeared to be homeless shoved a woman onto the tracks at Times Square — after at least two similar incidents earlier in this month, including a daytime attack on a 73-year-old grandma.
Policing the subways is primarily the responsibility of NYPD, though the MTA has its own small police force whose members also contribute to the effort.
“The health and safety of our customers is our number one priority. Failure to reduce crime more rapidly is unacceptable and we are concerned about these statistics and have been for many months,” MTA rep Abbey Collins said in a statement.
“We have called on our partners at the NYPD to have a more significant and effective presence in the system, and we continue to support their efforts in every way we can — with MTA police officers and additional uniformed personnel.”