The New York Times reports, MTA will resume 24-hour subway service on May 17 “after a year of overnight closures, a move critical for night-shift workers and a symbolic boost to a city that takes pride in a transit system that had, until the pandemic, never closed for extended periods.” The expansion of subway operations is part of a general removal of COVID-19 restrictions announced jointly by the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Monday.
“Mass Transit” magazine notes, “MTA originally made the decision to shut down its subway system for four hours every night last May to allow crews access to clean high-touch surfaces and disinfect vehicles. On Feb. 22, 2021, MTA shrank the shutdown window to two hours every night and extended service until 2:00 a.m. and reopened at 4:00 a.m.”