Riders who report assaults on transit workers could soon receive cash rewards, officials said yesterday.
MTA Vice President of Subways Carmen Bianco said he’d consider the payments — similar to rewards cops give for tips leading to arrests — as a way to combat the scourge of attacks on workers.
“We should consider everything at this point,” said Bianco, speaking at the National Transit Workers Assault Conference in Brooklyn. “Nothing is off the table.”
Attacks on workers rose from 72 in 2010 to 94 in 2011, a 30 percent increase.
And so far this year, 40 MTA employees have been assaulted on the job.
The disturbing trend also endangers riders, because sometimes the assaults take place on workers at the controls of moving subways or buses.
On April 21, Sidney Corniff, a conductor on a midday No. 1 train loaded with passengers, was knocked out when a crazed attacker on the platform struck him as his train pulled out of the 207th Street station.
He regained consciousness, disoriented and covered in blood from a broken nose, in the conductor’s booth with the train moving.
“What if I came to and opened the doors?” said Corniff, 47. “People would have been falling out all over Tenth Avenue.”
His attacker is still at large.
Officials hope that a reward program would prevent rushed riders from leaving the scene of a crime before cops arrive, said Harry Wills, of Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents 34,000 MTA employees.
Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan said he was also open to adding a reward program.
“You hit a bus driver, everyone on the bus is in danger,” he said.