NEW YORK CITY—A dangerous rise in subway surfing amongst young teens has left six dead this year, and the city is looking for answers.
A joint oversight meeting convened at City Hall on Nov. 18 to discuss progress on addressing subway surfing, where young people have been climbing on top of moving train cars.
The New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Committee on Public Safety, Committee on Education, and Committee on Children and Youth joined the meeting.
Subway surfing has skyrocketed, with a 366 percent surge in cases between 2020 and 2023. Deaths have also risen.
Queens City Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers said that five people died subway surfing in 2023, more than in the five years before combined. This year, there have been six deaths.
The illegal activity is being popularized on social media, with some videos garnering millions of views on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said the average age of the people doing subway surfing is 14, with the youngest reported being nine.
When asked the top reason why kids do it, he said social media is the main driver.
Michael Kemper, a chief security officer at the MTA and former NYPD chief of transit, told the meeting that more than 10,000 social media posts of young people subway surfing have been taken down.
Other efforts addressing the matter include suing major social media platforms for promoting harmful content like subway surfing.
Kemper spoke on how, as part of the “student-led messaging,” the NYPD teamed up with the High School of Art and Design to create an anti-subway surfer poster. The poster was distributed to 1,800 schools across the city.
There was a discussion of using drones and cameras to catch teens in the act during the meeting.
There was some skepticism about using traditional mounted cameras. The idea of having cameras on top of the train cars was quickly shot down, as the clearance between the car and subway tunnel is only 2 inches.
The meeting also looked at the effectiveness of the “Subway Surfing Kills—Ride Inside, Stay Alive” campaign, which has been ongoing since last year with the aim of encouraging youth to resist partaking in dangerous activity.
The campaign focuses on social media and getting kids to spread the word to peers about the dangers involved.
