Subway system key to reopening region

Closing the New York City subway system during overnight hours is an unprecedented move at an unprecedented time.

For now, it’s the right move, a necessary step toward keeping the system clean and safe and, eventually, instilling public confidence so people want to return to public transit in the future.

The only way Long Island’s economy will make the comeback it craves is if New York City does, too. Subway, bus and commuter rail service is key to the region’s return.

And while service on the Long Island Rail Road isn’t going to change beyond the existing reductions, the ongoing efforts to clean the LIRR and keep it safe are critical, too.

Over the last several weeks, it’s been clear that the overnight situation in the subways had become untenable. Homeless New Yorkers are sleeping and storing their belongings in the subways, often stretching out in uncrowded cars, and making it difficult to keep the cars clean. Meanwhile, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said that while the subways are being cleaned daily, stopping overnight service would allow for a deeper disinfecting process.

Now they’ll have that chance.

But closing the subway overnight is only part of the solution, and is easier said than done. Requiring all riders to leave the trains and stations will require significant assistance from state and city officials, and the NYPD. And closing the subways won’t solve the city’s homeless crisis. That needs a more comprehensive response, including further expanding the use of hotel rooms as isolation space for homeless residents who test positive for the coronavirus, and providing masks, thermometers and more as needed.

The MTA has argued it had to keep the subway system open to serve essential workers. Now, the authority will have to make sure its efforts to provide those workers with alternatives, like for-hire vehicles, work smoothly. Nurses, doctors and others need a safe way to get home after a long night of work.

The MTA’s plan will cost more money at a time when its finances are atrocious. The Federal Emergency Management Agency should pick up the tab, which is above and beyond the $3.9 billion the MTA still needs from Congress.

Meanwhile, the MTA is piloting new, potentially game-changing cleaning technologies as the authority tries to ready the system for when the region reopens. The agency has to keep the public up to date on those efforts, so customers feel certain that when they return to the rails, they won’t be putting their health or safety in jeopardy.

The MTA says the overnight closure is temporary, lasting only as long as the coronavirus pandemic. But it may be a while before ridership returns, and before the authority is ready to ramp up service, or resume the 2 a.m. rides many depend on after a night out or an overnight shift.

But at some point, New York City will return to its rightful place as the city that never sleeps. And 24-hour subway service must return when it does.

— The editorial board