Surveillance cameras at 30 major subway stops in Manhattan do not record video — a technical glitch that would make it impossible to review footage of a terror attack or other crimes, sources said yesterday.
The vulnerable stops include high-traffic locations like Herald Square, Rockefeller Center, Canal Street, Seventh Avenue, and Bowling Green, Transport Worker Union officials said.
Those stations alone serve more than 250,000 people on weekdays.
“It concerns me a great deal,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. “A lot of those cameras don’t work, and someday maybe we’re going to get very badly hurt because of it.”
About 2,270 of the MTA’s 4,313 subway security cameras are working, but it is unclear how many of those are capable of recording.
Of those that are inoperable, 910 are near turnstiles and will come online in June.
The remaining 1,113 were part of a contract with defense giant Lockheed Martin, which is currently in litigation.
MTA officials said getting record-capable cameras in heavily used stations is in the works.
“We also expect to have additional funding in the upcoming capital program to add cameras in priority areas identified in consultation with the NYPD,” said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
Union officials decried the program, with TWU President John Samuelsen saying the MTA is “exposing straphangers to harm’s way.”
Issues with MTA security cameras came to light this week when two riders were stabbed to death on a No. 2 train in an early-morning altercation near the Christopher Street station, where there are no cameras.