#Subway homeless incidents halved since start of nightly shutdowns: MTA stats

Homeless-related problems on the subway have more than halved since the MTA began closing the system down every night amid the coronavirus crisis, The Post has learned.

MTA stats show an average of just 1.8 homeless “incidents” — which including delays and complaints related to vagrants — since Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nightly shutdowns began on May 6, down from an average of 3.95 in the preceding six weeks of the pandemic.

Prior to the virus’ outbreak in early March, there were an average of 4.05 incidents a day, stats show. The state went into lockdown on March 22, which saw ridership plummet but many vagrants move in.

The new stats come a day after the MTA’s top watchdog said the number of complaints related to homeless people actually increased in the months after the MTA launched a $7.6 million effort last year to get them off the subway and into shelters — finding that the program was ultimately “very expensive” and “minimally effective.”

MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny’s report recommended that the new rules requiring passengers to clear off trains should continue post-pandemic, but did not pass judgment on the nightly closures.

MTA spokesman Tim Minton said the decrease began before May 6, but has “accelerated dramatically since.”

“The data is clear — since February, when the Inspector General’s report leaves off, there has been a dramatic decline in the number of incidents involving homeless persons,” Minton told The Post.

“As the Inspector General said clearly in her report, social services is a city responsibility and the city needs to step up to ensure that some of the most vulnerable in society get the help that they need.”

Cuomo announced the unprecedented nighttime shutdowns with the express goal of removing the homeless to clean trains and stations.

The governor and transit officials have been coy about when — if ever — 24-hour service will return.

“To have no one else in the system, no one on the trains, from 1 to 5, is an important opportunity for us to be really efficient, really effective at getting cleaning done, so it’s going to go at least through the pandemic,” Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg said last week.

“It is not possible to be as effective and efficient at cleaning when you’ve got a ton of people in the system.”

But transit advocates are calling on the MTA to restore overnight service.

“Reducing incidents that cause delays is essential — especially as the agency seeks to ensure there is as much capacity as possible for riders and that trains can enter and leave stations quickly,” said Lisa Daglian of the MTA’s in-house Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee.

“As the city pivots toward reopening, the MTA should be devising a path forward to restoring 24-hour service to meet the needs of late night and early morning riders so that ‘the city that never sleeps’ once again has the subway service it needs and deserves.”