NYC Council to hold hearing on subway surfing as deaths persist

The New York City Council will be holding an oversight hearing on Monday with top officials from the MTA and several city agencies to address the dangers of subway surfing, as deaths from the social media-fueled practice continue.

Councilmembers said they would evaluate preventative measures and try to figure out how to further deter people from taking part in the deadly activity, which has already claimed at least six lives this year. The hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. and is being jointly held by the Council’s committees on transportation and infrastructure, public safety, education and children and youth.

Officials expected to testify include MTA Chief of Security Michael Kemper, MTA Special Council Jeremy Feigelson, Department of Education Security Director Mark Rampersant and Jessica Vides-Hernandez, assistant commissioner for strategic partnerships for the department of youth and community development, according to a Council spokesperson. The spokesperson said the committees will interrogate how an ongoing campaign to end subway surfing performed during its first year and will dive into data on the prevalence of subway surfing as well as enforcement against it.

The hearing comes just weeks after police said a 13-year-old girl was killed and another teenager was critically injured while subway surfing on the 7 line in Queens in October. The activity persists — especially among teens — despite various efforts, including the MTA’s “Ride Inside, Stay Alive” campaign, attempts to strip subway surfing videos from social media, and stepped-up enforcement by the NYPD.

Construction workers near the 111th Street station where the girl died on Oct. 27 shared footage with Gothamist of more young people riding atop the train just hours later. “There was three kids on the train. One guy was videotaping,” construction worker Paul Geary said at the time.

A total of six people have died while subway surfing so far this year, according to transit officials.

At Monday’s hearing, the Council’s transportation committee will also consider two resolutions related to conducting environmental impact studies on proposed infrastructure projects.