So far this year, there have been twice as many homicides in New York’s transit system as there were during the same period in 2023 – although violence in the system overall has declined slightly, according to police figures.

The numbers have come into focus after a particularly gruesome murder over the weekend, when authorities said a man set fire to a sleeping woman and burned her on an F train at Coney Island station in Brooklyn. Police charged 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta with murder and arson in that attack.

Immigration officials said Zapeta was an unauthorized immigrant from Guatemala who re-entered the country after being deported in 2018. But that incident was one of several violent incidents on the subway over the weekend – including a stabbing, a fatal shooting and two punches of elderly riders.

Including the latest killings, police say 11 people have been killed on the city’s public transport so far this year, compared to five in the same period last year. For some of the 4 million people who ride the subway every day, the weekend’s incidents have heightened ongoing public concern.

“There’s no way you can really feel safe. “This isn’t possible,” commuter Dashauna Jackson said after getting off the C train on Spring Street Monday. “It’s gotten really, really bad in the last few years.”

Jackson and other subway riders who spoke to Gothamist said they have noticed an increase in erratic behavior, fights and general unrest on the subways in recent years.

Her comments come amid an ongoing debate over public safety on public transit that came to a head earlier this month when Daniel Penny, who was accused of causing the death of Jordan Neely when he shot him in an uptown F -held the train in a stranglehold, was acquitted of the charge of manslaughter. Passengers on the train had said Neely shouted threats as Penny grabbed him.

Paul Reeping, research director at nonprofit Vital City, said a broad increase in incidents isn’t just a perception.

“If people notice that, it’s because it’s partly true,” he said, adding that a rise in subway crime during the pandemic reflected increases in crime elsewhere in the city and not yet a return to levels achieved before the pandemic.

Although the number of transit homicides has doubled this year, they are still extremely rare, he emphasized. He said two murders on the same day in the subway system was “huge” because it was so unusual.

“We think the subway may actually be safer than walking on the street, just in terms of the amount of time you spend there and the amount of crime,” he said.

Nevertheless, the increase should be taken seriously, he said.

“I think most people think about the subway, just because it feels like an intimate space, that it must be like an airplane – there shouldn’t be murders there,” he said. “The number should be zero.”

Politicians have taken note of the public’s concerns. Gov. Kathy Hochul said last week she would deploy an additional 250 National Guard troops to the subway system, in addition to the 750 troops the state sent to the subway in March after a series of high-profile subway crimes . On Sunday, it announced the installation of cameras in every subway car, a $5.5 million project.

Surveillance in the subway system — along with body camera footage and a viral bystander video — helped police quickly take a person of interest into custody in the woman’s burning case. But that surveillance did not lead to arrests as quickly in four other incidents, including the other murder that took place on subways across the city over the weekend.

On Friday morning, just after 6 a.m., an 83-year-old man riding on a southbound 5 train near Fulton Street station in Manhattan was punched several times in the face by a stranger after a verbal argument, the Police with. He suffered cuts to his face and head and was taken to Kings County Hospital Center for treatment.

On Saturday around 3 p.m., a 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old man were shot by two unknown gunmen as they got off a southbound Q train at the Avenue U subway station in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, they said Officer. Both were taken to local hospitals in stable condition.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday, a 37-year-old man was stabbed on a southbound 7 train at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens. A 26-year-old man was also slashed multiple times and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.

And around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, a 76-year-old woman was hit in the head by a stranger and thrown to the ground on the southbound platform 6 at the 51st Street subway station in Manhattan, police said. She was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition.

In each of these cases, with the exception of the fatal stabbing, police sent clear photos of the alleged attackers – just as in the case of the woman burned to death on the F train.

According to the NYPD’s CompStat database, crime on public transit overall has decreased by 135 incidents, or 6%, compared to this time last year – with 2,095 incidents reported through December 15 of this year.

Gross theft makes up the majority of reported crimes, with more than 1,000 incidents in both years. However, the next highest category is criminal assaults – attacks in which victims can suffer permanent injuries. Police data shows 548 criminal assaults were reported on transit this year, compared to 557 during the same period last year.

Danny Pearlstein, policy director for the Riders Alliance, an organization that helps commuters advocate for better transit systems, said the answer to the problem isn’t necessarily more “scaremongering,” which can further increase riders’ fears.

“We need our leaders to step up their focus on housing solutions to housing problems and health solutions to health problems,” he said. “To the extent that we want to see a police presence on the subway, we also need it on platforms and trains, even though we know that police cannot solve every problem on transit.”

John McCarthy, director of policy and external relations for the MTA, said the transit authority has used the three-tiered approach of “cops, cameras and care” to curb subway crime and make riders feel safer.

He said the agency worked with the state and the NYPD to add more uniformed officers to the system, met its goal of installing cameras in every subway car and launched the SCOUT program, where Outreach teams work together to get help to people who are homeless and struggling with mental illness.

McCarthy said the MTA examined the context behind each murder to determine what circumstances caused the deaths and what might have prevented them.

“There is still a lot to do,” he said. “We remain focused on reducing this number.”