By Valeria Menendez, Equitable Cities and Mahika Hari, Evidn
From the moment riders descend into a New York City MTA station, they enter a behavioral ecosystem shaped by design, policy, and environmental stress. Riders are met with signals that influence how they behave and feel: Are they welcomed or deterred? Trusted or surveilled? Cared for or neglected?
When the MTA was built, the cutting-edge system was designed for longer winters and short summers, with heat retention as a benefit to withstand grueling winters. Now, a quarter into the 21st century, much of the MTA still relies on systems and machinery from the past that cannot withstand the increased rain, storm events, and heat.
This piece explores how the MTA’s design choices affect rider behavior, particularly around fare evasion and aggression, and how climate change is amplifying these effects.
Designing Resilience, Not Resistance
The relationship between the MTA and its riders functions as a social contract: when the system communicates care, safety, and respect, riders tend to reciprocate with positive behaviors—paying fares, following rules, and looking out for one another. Behavioral science research supports this idea: people are more likely to comply with norms and act prosocially when they feel respected and included.
When stations are sweltering, flooded, or designed to be uncomfortable, that social contract begins to fray. Features like leaning benches, armrests that block lying down, and metal fins on turnstiles—forms of hostile architecture—aim to deter “undesirable” behaviors but often end up targeting people experiencing homelessness, youth, and others who depend on public space.
Leaning bench at the West Fourth Street-Washington Square subway station in Manhattan. Source: CBS News
These design choices send a message: riders are problems to manage, not people to be supported. Hostile environments can foster feelings of exclusion, shame, and neglect—particularly among marginalized groups—and erode trust in public institutions. When platforms are dangerously hot or flooded, riders begin to question why they should invest in a system that doesn’t seem to invest in their comfort and well-being.
Riders may skip fares, ignore rules, or disengage—not out of malice, but as a rational response to feeling undervalued and excluded. Climate change is pushing this tension to its limits. Each heatwave or flood tests both the infrastructure and the fragile social contract between riders and the MTA. If the agency doesn’t invest in comfort, accessibility, and resilience, it risks a cycle of frustration, noncompliance, and declining public trust.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Evidence from Rotterdam shows that small design interventions can build trust and shape rider behavior by affirming dignity and shared identity to strengthen the bond between people and the systems they rely on.
Still, the MTA’s ability to sustain this social contract is limited by aging infrastructure and fragmented funding. As climate pressures intensify, the gap between what riders need and what the system can provide is widening. Maintaining trust requires more than keeping trains running; it means designing a system that reflects care, inclusion, and long-term resilience.
Climate Resilience as a Strategic Investment in Rider Experience
While ridership and rider satisfaction with the MTA system have been increasing, the chaotic summers resurface debates about fare evasion and general disgruntlement with the system. Just this July, heavy rains flooded subway stations, and overheated subway cars delayed entire lines. Aboveground and underground tracks were flooded, and even some subway cars were filling with water (Atienza, 2025). Intense heat also tripped up a breaker, which cut off the electricity in various stations and halted many trains for several hours. Riders lamented having to pay for expensive rideshare options or arriving at their destinations drenched in sweat.
A subway car with water seeping inside. Source: Getty Images
Flooded subway tracks. Source: MTA
The 2012 Superstorm Sandy demonstrated the extent to which the MTA was unprepared for a storm of its caliber. As a result of the enormous scale of devastation and destruction, the MTA reoriented funding priorities to repair and prepare the entire system for future Superstorms. Despite these investments, weather patterns continue to break records and put the MTA to the test.
The MTA does have a plan, though. Their 2024 Climate Resilient Roadmap acknowledges the major issues and proposes mitigation strategies, which have been approved for funding in the 2025-2029 Capital Plan. Planned improvements include elevating machinery, keeping stormwater out by elevating steps at subway entrances and elevating ventilation grates, reducing the flooding of trainyards through green infrastructure water retention, and increasing air circulation across stations to enhance cooling. These largely infrastructurally focused changes will hopefully also make the rider experience much more pleasant by keeping water out and maintaining comfortable temperatures.
With the chaos of the past few summers, paired with potential fare hikes coming in January 2026, passengers need a convincing affirmation that the MTA will be a reliable means of transportation as climate change intensifies. Although the system is currently unprepared for climate change, the MTA plays a key role in mitigating the impacts to come.
The Track Forward
The question isn’t whether we can design subway systems that foster cooperation, equity, and resilience—it’s how we get there. Piloting initiatives in select stations offers a strategic way to test interventions where they’re most needed, gather community input, and adapt quickly based on real-world results. These pilot sites can also generate momentum, demonstrating what’s possible and building public excitement for broader systemwide improvements.
As the MTA begins implementing its Climate Resilience Roadmap, it should anchor these efforts in four guiding principles:
- Design for dignity and climate readiness — Create station environments that are comfortable, accessible, and able to withstand heat waves and flooding, signaling care rather than neglect.
- Test positive behavioral nudges — Use identity and cultural relevance to invite cooperation, rather than relying solely on deterrents and enforcement.
- Center equity in decision-making — Ensure interventions work for all riders, especially those most vulnerable to environmental stressors and social exclusion.
- Engage riders and communities — Treat the public as co-designers, not just end-users, to build trust and shared responsibility.
The subway is still the best way to get around in the city. By pairing infrastructure upgrades with thoughtful, rider-centered design, the MTA can strengthen its social contract with riders and build a system that not only withstands the climate crisis but helps the city thrive through it.