MTA Response Re: Conditions at W4th St - Washington Square Station

Dear State Senator Hoylman:

This is in response to your letter to MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Janno Lieber regarding conditions at the W4th St-Washington Square Station, specifically concerning fare evasion, intravenous drug use, and unhoused people in need of assistance.

Currently, MTA New York City Transit management has bi-weekly meetings with NYPD District 2 and MTA Homeless Outreach to address on-going quality of life and homeless conditions at W4th St Station. NYPD has officers on site, on a 24-hour rotation schedule to assist with homeless individuals, crime and minimizing fare evasion throughout the station complex. For the month of February 2024, NYPD reported 581 station visits which resulted in 29 arrests, 252 summonses, and 55 ejections.

Regarding the overall cleanliness of the station, this station has a total of six cleaners who perform cleaning duties daily. Our Mobile Wash Unit recently deep cleaned the station on February 27th and 28th.

To mitigate the concerns raised in your letter, we will be accelerating this station’s rollout as part of the Station LED Conversion project. In addition to converting all light fixtures to LED, we will complete the following:

     •     All street entrance stairways will get updated globe fixtures.
     •     Additional light fixtures will be added at the north end of the southbound entrance.
     •     Additional light fixtures will be added in dark areas on the mezzanine.
     •     Additional light fixtures will be added in dark areas on the platform.
 

In total, we are projecting over 1200 light fixtures will be converted to LED and almost 100 new light fixtures will be added to dark areas. The new enhanced lighting upgrade will lead to a significantly brighter station and to an increased sense of security of our customers. We are projecting completion of this upgrade by mid-summer 2024.

Additionally, we have two capital projects underway at the station to replace two platform escalators and three elevators. Both projects are forecasted for completion in Q4 2025. Station Department management will continue to monitor the station to ensure a clean, safe, and well-maintained station environment.

Thank you for bringing your constituents’ concerns to our attention. We appreciate your
continued support of public transportation.