MTA to install bright, white lights in every NYC subway station

Brighter lights are coming to New York City’s subway stations as part of a change that transit officials believe will make the system safer.

The MTA on Tuesday announced plans to install LED bulbs in all 150,000 of the subway’s light fixtures by the end of 2026. The new bulbs emit a bright, white glow and are touted as being more energy efficient than the old, orange-tinted incandescent lights they’ll replace.

The brighter bulbs — which have become the standard for the city’s streetlights over the last decade — are intended to brighten dark corners of subway stations, said Demetrius Crichlow, NYC Transit’s vice president for subways, during a news conference.

“Customers feel safer as the areas are lighter,” said Crichlow. “It also lightens the areas for our cameras. Our hundreds of thousands of cameras that we have throughout the stations will be able to get better images when things happen and occur in our system.”

The MTA announced in 2021 that surveillance cameras were installed at all of the city’s 472 subway stations, and Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 said security cameras would be in place on every subway car by the end of 2025.

The rollout of the new light bulbs comes as Mayor Eric Adams continues to surge NYPD officers into the subway system, where the number of felony assaults hit a 27-year high in 2023.

The new LED lights have already been installed at the Bergen Street and Carroll Street stations on the F and G lines, and the Lafayette Avenue station on the C line. Officials said the lights will next be added to the Clinton-Washington station on the C line.

MTA officials said they’ll spend $21 million to replace all the bulbs, but noted the cost will be offset because the efficient LED lights will save the agency about $6 million a year on electricity.