The MTA has set up "no-standing zone" poles at a subway station in Harlem as part of an effort to protect train conductors.
Commuters at the 125th Street 4, 5 and 6 train station in East Harlem will now see 4-foot-tall poles positioned around swaths of the platform across from where trains’ conductor cabs stop, the MTA said in a news release.
The floors in those areas are also marked with "no standing" to encourage travelers to avoid them.
In its release, the MTA said it will monitor the zones’ “effectiveness at discouraging customers from standing in this area and on deterring attacks against subway conductors.”
The MTA rolled the zones out last year as part of a pilot program, but they weren’t marked by poles then.
“In some instances, the floor stripes faded and lost some of their visibility,” Demetrius Crichlow, New York City Transit senior vice president of subways, said in a statement. “We hope that adding additional visibility elements create[s] a more well-defined zone of safety and security around our hard-working subway conductors to ensure they can do their work without fear of being attacked on the platform while they simply try to do their jobs.”
When the pilot program ends in a few months, New York City Transit may install the barriers throughout other stations, the release said.