NYC subway to end 24-hour service for first time for coronavirus disinfection

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that the city's subway system will end 24-hour service to disinfect trains overnight amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: It's the first time since the subway began running in 1904 that continuous service will not be offered.

• Bus service in the city will also stop for disinfection, which will occur from 1am to 5am.
• Subway historian Andrew Sparberg told the New York Times in 2017 that "there has never been a systemwide, overnight shutdown" — and called the idea "unprecedented" — when authorities mulled cuts in order to perform maintenance.

The state of play: The city remains the country's coronavirus epicenter, and Cuomo said this week that subway ridership has cratered by 90%, according to the New York Post.

• The subway's operator, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, has had 2,269 workers diagnosed with coronavirus and 59 have died, per NY1.

What they're saying: "I think what we’re doing here in partnership is exactly the right thing to say we’re going to find a way to make our subway system cleaner than it’s probably ever been in its history, honestly. ... [I]t took some disruption to say we’re going to do something during this pandemic we’ve never done before," de Blasio said.

Go deeper: The fight for New York