Terrifying interactive subway crime maps reveals subways are pretty safe

Given that they’re isolated, often underground caverns full of garbage and rats, people might be under the impression that subway platforms are a place for crime. Turns out we should put those Warriors-era fears to bed though, because a the Daily News looked at data covering subway crime from 2008 to 2013 and it turns out that unless someone beats you up or robs you at the Broad Channel A station, there hasn’t been a ton of subway crime over the last five years.

The Daily News study of the subway crime numbers counted the number of people swiping in to stations as the number of riders per year, which doesn’t count the number of people transferring into stations. The conclusion of the study is that crime on the subways is pretty freaking rare, unless you’re going to Broad Channel. There were 27.38 crimes per 100,000 riders there. Nowhere else in the city came nearly as close to that number.

It’s not to discount anyone who’s been beaten up or robbed or groped on the subway, but all over the city, subway crime as measured by crimes committed per 100,000 rides at a station doesn’t happen that often. Even at Brooklyn’s crime timeist subway station, the Broadway Junction stop, there were 825 total crimes, or 5.76 per 100,000 trips, and almost half of those were for weapons possession. That’s not 825 per year, that’s 825 over five years. Elsewhere in Brooklyn, places like the 77 Street R stop had .7 crimes per 100,000 rides, the Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College 2/5 had .5 crimes per 100,000 rides and the Atlantic Avenue L stop had 3.14 crimes per 100,000 rides, making it Brooklyn’s second-highest spot for crime.

So while this doesn’t mean you should do things like get so drunk you black out and fall asleep on the D train and wake up at Norwood-205 Street in The Bronx, there were only 12 robberies, four assaults and zero felony sex crimes over the five years, so at least the numbers say the odds are good you’ll be safe.

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