NEW YORK (WABC) -- Can you remember the last time you saw an officer riding on the subway car?
"I can't really remember. Not too recently," subway rider Arthur Kaplan said.
This reality changed Monday night. The first 100 additional NYPD police officers to patrol inside the trains under Governor Kathy Hochul's new plan were on the job.
By the end of the month, it will be up to 300, guaranteeing two cops will ride on every overnight subway train as officials work to improve public safety.
"I actually was on a car going to Queens last week, and there were two officers on the train. So it was kind of relieving. It was actually a relief, to be honest. It was very, really," Arwa Zegler said.
Hochul, wanting all straphangers to share this same sense of safety and security, announced last week the state is footing the bill for $77 million in overtime to phase in 750 more NYPD officers from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the next six months to train lines, stations and hubs that have seen the most crime.
"We're not doing anything with any of the police officers in the system. This is to add on top of that," Hochul said.
Nearly 150 trains run overnight. Each train will have a two-officer patrol.
Riders on Monday night told Eyewitness News that they welcome it.
"At least at night we'll know that things will be safer," said Teresa, a subway rider. "And they just need more places with people with mental illness to be able live in and take their medicine and things like that. Because we need more help for people with mental illness here."
High-profile crimes such as a 45-year-old man pushed in front of an oncoming train on New Year's Eve and a woman set on fire on a train have increased concern about subway safety.
While neither of those incidents happened overnight, Hochul says data indicates the overnight hours is when straphangers are the most afraid to ride the subway.
"Even in the daytime, I try to travel in the car with the conductor just because I feel like it's a little safer. I'd rather take the bus because it's so scary to be here on the train," Zegler said.
Thirty subway stations that account for 50% of crime in the transit system would also see ramped-up enforcement and be prioritized, Hochul said.
Mayor Eric Adams told Eyewitness News last week that the move to have two officers on every subway train at night "so important," calling the omnipresence of the blue uniform as a comfort to passengers.
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