Alex Diaz says he typically hops on the ‘D’ train after closing up ‘DR Produce Corp’ in Norwood at around 1 a.m. every day. He fears his already lengthy commute back to Long Island will get even worse with subways closing overnight for cleaning.

“And I can’t close early or close late because my community depends on us and this is what we do here,” said commuter Alex Diaz.

The LIRR will not be impacted by any closures, but that’s not the case for the subways Diaz relies on to connect to the railway. He is one of as many as 11,000 commuters still traveling during the suspension hours.

Patricia Mitchell is also part of that group and works late shifts in a restaurant. She says she doesn’t mind utilizing the other means of transportation provided by the MTA— even if it takes a little longer.   

“I’m more thankful that they are cleaning the trains and they never get to do this anyway so it’s needed now,” said Patricia Mitchell, Commuter.

On Wednesday, City  Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez held a press conference near the 161st Yankee Stadium station calling on the  MTA to provide a definitive timeline for these closures — and provide free face covers at subway stations. He says while he supports cleaning stations, the closure largely impacts immigrant communities.

“Most people who use it they brown they black they’re Asian they’re working class. You know we’re they’re gonna work? The supermarkets,” said councilman Rodriguez.

Some overnight commuters could learn the hard way. We broke the news to a few of the straphangers we spoke to.