More than half of residents feel unsafe riding the New York City subway alone at night and one in four feels that way even in the daytime, according to a survey conducted earlier this year.

The numbers are even higher for women and Asian Americans, two-thirds of whom feel unsafe at night and about a third of whom feel unsafe during the day.

Residents felt more worried about waiting for a train on the platform than riding the train itself.

The survey follows a series of high-profile crimes on the subway in recent years where people have been assaulted or even pushed onto the tracks. Victims have disproportionately been women and Asian Americans. Perpetrators have disproportionately been black men.

Yet the level of crime in the subway system, in general, hasn’t changed much over the past decade and is even slightly down so far this year compared to last year, according to New York City Police Department data.

What has increased dramatically, however, is crime in the city more broadly. Felony assaults, in particular, have been on the rise for years and so far this year have been at their highest since 1998. Also up are petty theft such as shoplifting, misdemeanor assaults, and car theft. Murder has somewhat declined this and last year, but is still up from 2019 after a dramatic rise in 2020 and 2021.

But New Yorkers still feel the city streets are safer than the subway, according to the survey. Sixty-eight percent said they felt safe walking down the street alone during the day compared to 58 percent feeling safe riding the subway alone. At night, 59 percent felt unsafe riding the subway alone, but only 50 percent felt unsafe walking alone.

The majority of residents still rely on the subway for transportation. Over 70 percent said they ride at least once a month and 54 percent ride weekly. By contrast, only 17 percent said they take a cab at least once a week and 16 percent said they use ridesharing apps like Lyft or Uber at least weekly.

The survey was conducted in January and February among 1,000 adult New York City residents by Opinium, a consumer and political research outfit.

“New York is supposed to be the city that never sleeps—but it’s clear that for many of its residents, even trying to get around the city in daylight hours can feel uncomfortable and unsafe—not to mention at night,” the company’s Naomi Horn said in an April 11 press release.