NEW YORK — Subway riders feel significantly less safe than they did six months ago.

That's the result of a rider survey conducted last month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The online survey got responses from about 33,000 customers.

More than 17,000 are considered "active" customers who use mass transit at roughly the same rate as they did before COVID-19.

Seventy-two percent of those "active" customers say they're more concerned with crime and harassment than things like social distancing or mask wearing.

Of those who stopped using the subway because of the pandemic or who have used it sporadically since COVID-19 hit, 36% said they are not using it because of crime concerns.

The survey found overall service satisfaction fell to 38%.

That's a drop of 15 percentage points from a previous poll taken six months ago.