Teens have been subway surfing, i.e. riding on top of a moving subway car, in NYC since at least the 80s. The trend comes and goes, as trends do, and some kids always die because, you know, it's incredibly dangerous. It was inevitable that it would become a TikTok trend. So far this year, six youths have been killed in the TikTok subway surfing challenge, surpassing last year's total of five, with two months left in the year.
To avoid signal-boosting the scofflaws by sharing their videos, I would like to present a fun alternative: the Subway Surfers challenge, in which you reenact the popular Subway Surfers mobile endless runner game in real life.
Mayor Eric Adams, who definitely isn't trying to deflect attention away from anything, announced the success of the MTA's current initiative to use drones to find and stop subway surfers.
The mayor said there have been 900 NYPD drones deployed that have caught and stopped 114 riders, including one that was just 9 years old. The average age of subway surfers is 14. The oldest was 33.
The drones are used to monitor the most popular subway lines used for the dangerous activity, including the No. 7 train. The NYPD used 911 calls to send drones and officers to the necessary areas.
Officers have apprehended 41 people who have been arrested more than once for subway surfing, police said.
The MTA has been working with social media companies to remove videos of subway surfing and has produced a PSA with the mother of a 15-year-old boy who was killed subway surfing last year.
Previously: Live crabs escape on NYC subway, chaos ensues
