This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.<\/p>\n
Sign up<\/a> to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.<\/p>\n The NYPD’s failure to crack down on dogs illegally roaming the city’s subways turned deadly last week when an internet-famous chow chow named Meatball<\/a> broke free from its owner and jumped down onto the tracks<\/a> at the Bowling Green station, where she was fatally electrocuted by the third rail.<\/p>\n The tragedy was a dark turn in a trend that began when transit ridership plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dog owners began taking advantage of the extra space by bringing their furry friends on their commutes. The dogs don\u2019t pay a fare as they are unable to use the OMNY system<\/a>. In many cases, the furry fare beaters\u2019 presence in the transit system violates the MTA\u2019s rules, which require all pets to be in a bag or carrier to avoid annoying other passengers.<\/p>\n According to NYPD data, cops are giving the hounds a pass. Officers doled out just 13 summonses to riders breaking the \u201cbag rule\u201d for pets in 2025, and only nine the year before.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been annoyed by a dog more than 13 times myself,\u201d said Naveed Javid, 24, who was commuting through the Union Square station.<\/p>\n More enforcement could discourage people like Meatball\u2019s owner from taking their dogs into the subway.<\/p>\n According to an incident report obtained by Gothamist, Meatball weighed between 50 and 60 pounds and escaped as her owner boarded the train. The dog jumped onto the track and was killed. Her demise delayed 31 trains over four subway lines, discharged 1,250 passengers and suspended service between the Bowling Green and Atlantic Avenue stations on the 4 and 5 lines for over an hour, MTA officials said.<\/p>\n The ongoing canine presence in the subways risks turning the trains into a moving dog run as more riders return to the system. Human passengers already struggle with basic etiquette, which has deteriorated post-pandemic. They linger by the doors instead of moving to the center of a car. They blast music instead of wearing headphones. These problems led the MTA to launch a campaign in 2023 reminding riders to be \u201ccourteous\u201d to their fellow passengers.<\/p>\n Dog owners commuting on the subways Wednesday morning said they\u2019ve never put their pets in carriers \u2014 and don\u2019t see why they should. Gothamist only observed dogs traveling through the system on leashes, not in carriers.<\/p>\n Heather Curry, a commuter with a pit bull-Stafford mix named Shadow, said she\u2019s never run into trouble from the authorities while walking her dog on the train.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [cops] are always very nice, very professional,\u201d Curry, 36, said of her encounters with police when riding the trains with her pooch. She said other straphangers love Shadow. \u201cIt\u2019s very positive. Everybody on the train is always complimenting him because he\u2019s very calm and they get a kick out of him knowing his stop.\u201d<\/p>\n For Jemmifer Miller, who walked her Pomsky service dog, Oreo, on a leash at Union Square, the subway rules might as well not exist.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not really much of a rule follower,\u201d said Miller, 27. \u201cSo even if there was a rule, I probably wouldn\u2019t follow it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though the NYPD barely enforces the rule, one rider said MTA Chair Janno Lieber is a stickler about dogs on trains.<\/p>\n Dom Zagara, another commuter who takes his dog on transit, said Lieber approached him outside the MTA headquarters a few months ago.<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me to put him in a box on the subway,\u201d Zagara said, pointing to his goldendoodle, Blaze.<\/p>\n An MTA spokesperson confirmed Lieber sometimes approaches dog owners in the system and encourages them to put their pets in carriers.<\/p>\n Unlicensed tow trucks. If you get in a car crash in New York City, there\u2019s a good chance that an unlicensed tow truck driver, or \u201cchaser,\u201d will race to the scene, potentially putting other drivers and pedestrians in danger. A Gothamist investigation looks at how a change in NYPD policy, wherein officers were told to stop responding to minor crashes, enabled an underground towing industry to flourish<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlicensed ride-hail app. Empower, an illegal e-hail app, says it lets drivers take home 100% of their fare while charging less than Uber and Lyft. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is warning New Yorkers not to use it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gross snow. We sent samples of snow piles from three different neighborhoods to a lab for testing and found that snow under elevated train tracks contains dangerous levels of lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n Waymos are unpopular. According to a new Siena poll, a majority of New Yorkers oppose driverless robot cars over concerns about lost jobs for drivers, as well as the taxis’ ability to drive in bad weather on the city\u2019s chaotic streets<\/a>.<\/p>\n