The head of the MTA uncharacteristically joined a transit board committee hearing to start the meeting addressing the fatal shooting of a 48-year-old Brooklyn man on a Manhattan bound Q train Sunday morning.

"They're trying to resume their normal lives, but they can't resume normal life if just getting around is frightening," MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.

What You Need To Know

  • NYPD transit chief announced new "dedicated, targeted and visible train patrols in the late evening and overnight hours" that had once been a part of the police's strategy against transit crime

  • This year through April there were 743 major felony crimes, a 64% increase from the prior year

  • According to the NYPD transit bureau chief, 54% of total subway crime is on trains and 40% of that is during the evening and over night

Daniel Enriquez's death is the fourth murder in the transit system this year. Some of these violence crimes have shaken commuters.

Earlier this year, Michelle Go was killed in Times Square, when a man shoved her in front of an oncoming train.

Then, there was a mass shooting on board a rush hour train in Sunset Park. Ten people were shot, all survived.

Despite that, more New Yorkers are taking public transit.

"As the ridership continues to grow this year we continue to experience increases in major crime categories," NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Jason Wilcox said.

This year through April, there were 743 major felony crimes, a 64% increase from the prior year. The increase was due to more robberies, assaults and grand larcenies.

Wilcox said 54% of total subway crime is on trains and 40% of that is during the evening and overnight.

To address that, he has launched a new tactic that is from the department's old playbook, made up of "dedicated, targeted and visible train patrols in the late evening and overnight hours," Wilcox said.

Wilcox called it the Train Patrol Force.

"It was a type of transit patrol done in years past, notably by our mayor when he was a transit cop," Wilcox said.

The MTA's ridership has been steadily increasing, and reaching new post-pandemic records, regularly carrying around three and a half million people each weekday. Still, the MTA is carrying fewer people than it anticipated.

At his first MTA board meeting, New York City Transit President Richard Davey said safety is on his agenda.

"Maintaining safety on our subways, buses and our para-transit services to be a welcoming and safe space for our customers and our employees, in partnership with the city and state, is a top priority for this organization," Davey said.