Transit crime has ticked up so far this year, according to NYPD crime data. The NYPD is blaming the recent cold.
The NYPD’s CompStat crime tracking system shows an 11% uptick year to date in transit crime as of Wednesday, with 293 incidents thus far in 2026 as opposed to 264 during the same period last year.
The NYPD’s Transit Bureau tracked a 17.1% year-to-date uptick in crime in the system as of Feb. 8, but noted in that same report that even with the uptick, crime overall in the transit system was down 7.5% compared to two years ago, and 3.5% from seven years ago.
How the cold has played a role
This weekend, when two women and a teenager were randomly attacked in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with one pushed onto the subway tracks, the NYPD pointed to the recent prolonged cold snap as a cause of the uptick.
“New York City has experienced record cold during the first six weeks of the year. When it is cold, especially this cold, more people move into the transit system,” the NYPD said. “While crime in the transit system is up 17% year-to-date, that only amounts to an increase of 36 incidents. This equates to approximately 6 index crimes in the transit system on a daily basis. This figure is fractional compared to the millions of riders the system sees daily.”
They added more police officers have been added into the system in response to the uptick.
Just last month, the NYPD touted the fewest shootings in recorded history for January in New York City.
Duffy asks Hochul “You got this?”
The recent uptick caught the attention of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has been involved in a lengthy back-and-forth with Gov. Kathy Hochul about the fate of congestion pricing, among other issues.
Duffy took to social media to ask if New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hochul had noticed the uptick and asked Hochul, “You got this?”
“Governor Hochul’s top priority is public safety, and her record investments helped produce the safest year in the subway system in a generation. The governor has always said one crime is one too many which is why she has doubled down on subway safety this year by funding increased NYPD patrols, modernizing lighting throughout the system, installing gates on platforms, and increasing access to treatment and care for those with severe mental illness,” a spokesperson for Hochul said.