A lot of commenters here seem to be thinking that the point of the 1AM-5AM shutdown is just to clean the subway cars. The cars are only part of the sanitation problem. The stations need to be cleaned too, and need to be cleared of crazy homeless people as well as normal riders, so that the cleaning can be accomplished thoroughly and safely.
There are a lot more homeless people spending most of their time in the subway cars and stations now, since panhandling above ground is not possible during the lockdown. Even in normal times, it's common to see homeless people, in filthy urine-soaked clothes, and sometimes even with open festering wounds, sitting or sleeping on the platforms.
Closing the whole system down for 4 hours every early AM gives police the legal grounds to force everybody out of the stations -- no room for "homeless advocacy" organizations to sue the city for "discriminating against" the crazy homeless. It would probably be a good idea to make a 2 hour daily shutdown a permanent thing. People who really need to get somewhere in the wee hours of the morning could reasonably plan to go before or after a 2 hour shutdown.
People who really need to get somewhere in the wee hours of the morning could reasonably plan to go before or after a 2 hour shutdown.
If it's consistent, well published, and not dicked around with...you fucking get used to it. Even travelers to the city can easily know ahead of time "the subways and buses are unavailable from 3a-5a, plan other travel arrangements."
A lot of commenters here seem to be thinking that the point of the 1AM-5AM shutdown is just to clean the subway cars. The cars are only part of the sanitation problem. The stations need to be cleaned too, and need to be cleared of crazy homeless people as well as normal riders, so that the cleaning can be accomplished thoroughly and safely.
There are a lot more homeless people spending most of their time in the subway cars and stations now, since panhandling above ground is not possible during the lockdown. Even in normal times, it's common to see homeless people, in filthy urine-soaked clothes, and sometimes even with open festering wounds, sitting or sleeping on the platforms.
Closing the whole system down for 4 hours every early AM gives police the legal grounds to force everybody out of the stations -- no room for "homeless advocacy" organizations to sue the city for "discriminating against" the crazy homeless. It would probably be a good idea to make a 2 hour daily shutdown a permanent thing. People who really need to get somewhere in the wee hours of the morning could reasonably plan to go before or after a 2 hour shutdown.
If it's consistent, well published, and not dicked around with...you fucking get used to it. Even travelers to the city can easily know ahead of time "the subways and buses are unavailable from 3a-5a, plan other travel arrangements."