A new platform safety pilot program is on display at a Manhattan subway station.
Brand new yellow platform barriers were installed at the 191st St. station in Washington Heights over the weekend, courtesy of New York City Transit.
The barriers are spaced out along the edge of the platform a handful of feet apart, offering a layer of protection for riders of the No. 1 train.
"It’s still in an experimental phase, and we will be watching carefully to determine if the barriers are effective at deterring track intrusions without interfering with passenger circulation. If they pass the test, we will be ready to deploy widely," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement.
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The Washington Heights station is the first of four earmarked for the pilot program. Similar barriers will be installed by crews at the Clark St. station in Brooklyn Heights and the West 8-NY Aquarium station in Coney Island. A fourth location has not yet been determined.
The MTA said the new barriers, funded by existing maintenance resources, came out of a task force which focused on preventing track trespassing.
Those barriers are spaced strategically away from one another so as to not block any subway car doors when riders need to get on or exit the train.
It's yet to be seen how warmly straphangers are welcoming the new barriers. The pilot comes on the heels of another new program for fare gates.
There was plenty of attention paid to new high-tech sensor gates installed at four MTA transit hubs in recent weeks when riders figured out how to avoid paying by "piggybacking" through and skipping out on the fares.
That pilot came months after a special panel found the MTA lost $500M to fare evaders in 2021 and $690M in 2022. A 38% increase.
