From the beginning of this Monday, the city that "never sleeps" returns with the "never resting" subway.
New Yorkers will wake up on Monday to the good news that the Subway service, which had to be halted due to the pandemic, was reopened at 2 a.m., exactly at the moment when the state of Nueva York is restarting its economic and social reopening.
For the first time in its 116-year history, the New York Subway system suspended operation for four hours on May 6, 2020 (from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.) to conduct an extraordinary washing and disinfection procedure aimed at shielding staff and users from Covid-19. This year, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared on February 15 a partial reestablishment of night service, limiting the closure to two hours.
The reintroduction of Subway service at night comes at a moment when the number of users is beginning to rebound. On Friday, March 12, the number of passengers reached 1.9 million for the first time since the pandemic began a year earlier, while on Monday, May 10, it surpassed 2.2 million people, setting a new record in a single day.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) president and CEO, Patrick Foye, said on Sunday that the commencement of service was made possible by the governor's leadership and the hard work of New Yorkers.
“We owe our heroic frontline workforce a tremendous debt that will never be paid in full. They kept this city moving when it needed it most, and they will continue to be heroes among heroes,” Foye said.
Sarah Feinberg, interim president of NYC Transit, said the Metro's return to 24-hour service is a sign that the city is closer than ever to returning to normalcy.
The COVID- 19 vaccine program in the Subway is being expanded by New York City.
Following the popularity of the campaign, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared on Sunday that the city's busy subway's covid-19 vaccine pilot program will be extended until May 22. The pilot program, which started last Wednesday in eight busy stations to enable people and travelers to get vaccinated and ended today, will now be continued in four of these with a single dose of Johnson & Johnson and the distribution of a seven-day subway pass.
The campaign, to which people and visitors will go without an appointment, will begin in Manhattan's busy stations of Penn Station and Grand Central, the Bronx's East 180, a Latino majority district, and Brooklyn's Broadway Junction, where 3,497 doses had been delivered as of Saturday.
It was also announced that interactive messages would be transmitted on more than 12,000 screens in subway stations, train cars, and buses to advertise vaccine site positions and hours of service, as part of an effort in which the MTA collaborated with the SOMOS network of Latino doctors for inoculation.
The details will also be sent on the MTA's social media channels, which have over 3 million users.