Don’t Take the A Train, N.Y. Tells Homeless

NEW YORK —  New York’s beleaguered Transit Authority on Friday announced a new push to get rid of the derelicts, drifters and displaced who use the country’s biggest subway system as a traveling place to sleep.

Beginning Sunday, police officers will force all passengers to get off the A train when it arrives at the 207th Street station, the northern end of a 30-mile route that begins in southeastern Queens and passes through Brooklyn and the entire length of Manhattan.

The trip, the second-longest in the 214.6-mile rail network, takes about 1 1/2 hours, making it especially attractive to people who use the trains as a place to sleep between midnight and dawn.

Authorities already have announced a plan to kick homeless people off subway trains and platforms, but Friday’s announcement was the first time that that policy had been implemented by focusing on a specific station or subway line.

The latest move prompted a sharp reaction from homeless advocates.

“When are they going to learn? Moving homeless people from one area to another accomplishes nothing,” said Mary Brosnahan, director of the Coalition for the Homeless.

The Transit Authority said it would post workers from two outreach programs at the 207th Street station to assist any homeless persons who want to go to shelters.

Jared Lebow, a Transit Authority spokesman, said that the behavior of some homeless people is a problem when they are awakened at 207th Street, where the cars are cleaned and made ready for the return trip.

“Some of them get pretty upset when the workers try to get them to move. Some of our people have been hit, kicked and even spit on,” Lebow said.

Another transit spokesman, Robert Slovak, said: “We did a count and found that about 135 people were just riding up and down. They carry their belongings and there are occasionally some problems with sanitation.”

The new effort will be extended next month to another of the city’s subway routes, the E train.