New York City Subway System Is ‘Dangerous and Unfit for Human Use,’ Class Action Suit Alleges

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A woman who fell into the gap between a New York City subway train and the platform at West 23^rd Street has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA). The plaintiff alleges the agencies’ “defective design” and “systematically negligent” oversight of New York City’s subway system has left it “dangerous and unfit for human use,” resulting in physical and financial injury to proposed class members.

Though the plaintiff’s incident reportedly took place in May 2017, the woman claims in the suit she’s suffered anxiety when using the subway in the past stemming from the railway’s allegedly unsafe design. A step further, the plaintiff charges that the MTA and NYCTA operate in “a culture of reckless indifference” toward passenger safety, ignoring years of complaints about the lack of guardrails. Indeed, the lack of guardrails in New York City subways are to blame for many passenger safety incidents over the years, the lawsuit reads. The complaint goes so far as to provide the reported details, including some images, of 10 separate incidents in which individuals fell off subway platforms and were severely injured or died.

According to the case, the defendants’ own actions and statements show they know full well the subway is unsafe without guardrails. Chief among the examples included in the lawsuit are statistic-laden public safety posters disseminated as part of a safety campaign that reminds riders to stand clear of platform edges.

“[The defendants’] Subway still injures and kills approximately the same number of people per year, despite the existence of the public service announcements,” the lawsuit reads. “Furthermore, these train collision statistics understate the scope of the problem: many people who fall onto the tracks are injured without being hit by a train, while other people who fall are not injured and escape before being hit by a train.”

The complaint, which contains pictures of the plaintiff’s alleged injuries, can be read below.