Crime spikes on New York City subway despite ridership falling 90 per cent as homeless people move in to avoid crowded shelters and Gov. Cuomo calls it 'disgusting' for all involved (6 Pics)

New York's subways have become a hotbed for crime in the coronavirus pandemic with more homeless people moving in to the all-but abandoned trains that has created what Gov Andrew Cuomo called a 'disgusting' situation for all involved. 

Since the pandemic exploded in New York City, where there are now at least 159,865 cases and 12,287 deaths, ridership has decreased by 90 percent as millions of people stopped going to work.

It has meant that many of the city's homeless population have been able to move permanently onto the trains without disruption. 

But there has been a spike in crime on the network of trains which includes complaints of nudity, sexual activity, human waste and even arson. 

On Wednesday, Cuomo instructed the MTA to present him with a plan for how to clean every train on the network nightly. 

He said it was not safe for the homeless people on the network to be there without protective equipment, nor was it fair to the essential workers who rely on the trains to get to work. 

A homeless person on the subway on April 29 with their belongings. Police are now starting to clear them from the trains in an effort to disinfect the system 

A homeless person on the subway on April 29. Despite ridership plummeting by 90 percent, there has been a spike in crime 

A homeless person on the subway with their belongings in a video taken in late April 

A man sits shirtless on a train, with his clothes draped over the hand rails

Cuomo called the situation 'disgusting' and said the homeless, who he'd worked with 'for years', should be in shelters. 

'That is disgusting what is happening on those subway cars,' he said on Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, he went further, saying: 'Crimes are up in the subways even though ridership is down by 90 percent. 

'The trains are filled with homeless... to let homeless people stay on the trains in the middle of a global health pandemic with no masks, you're not helping the homeless by letting them endanger their own life and the lives of others. 

'It's not helping anyone,' he said. 

It echoed comments by mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday that 10 subway stations must be closed for cleaning every night - including clearing out the homeless. 

'Everyone has to get out of the stations, instead of what’s happened for years and years — that a homeless person just sits on the train, or maybe gets off the train temporarily, gets right back on it, goes then the whole way back,' he said on Tuesday.  

But many homeless people are concerned that going to a homeless shelter will increase their exposure to the virus.

'It’s hell out here. They tried to kick me off but I got different ways to get back on

A homeless person sleeps in the station near police tape. The governor has ordered that every train must be disinfected every night 

'I agree with them, I get off, get out, and I get on the next train. The shelters are hell with coronavirus. 

'I have nowhere else to go,' Jeremiah McIntosh, 35, told The New York Daily News earlier this week. 

In just ten hours on Monday, MTA officials received reports of arson, a person smothered in human waste and lewd activity on the subway system. 

One incident involved a man masturbating on a 6 train in The Bronx at 1.13am. 

At 10am, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, police were called to remove a man from a train who had covered himself in human feces. 

At 11am, a homeless man was arrested for lighting pieces of cardboard on fire at the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum station in Brooklyn. 

MTA worker Torry Chalmers says he deserves hazard pay for having to work on the subways

Sarah Feinberg, interim NYC Transit president, said the city had failed the homeless population and was forcing the MTA to act as social services. 

'The city has failed our most vulnerable who are in desperate need of mental health care and housing services. 

'NYC Transit will continue to do everything in our power to address this important issue, including working closely with all partners, but it is outrageous that a transportation agency is conducting social services in place of the city,' she said. 

On Wednesday at around 1am, cops hauled people off of a Q train at the 96th Street Station. 

They were given the choice of going to the hospital or going to a homeless shelter.

'The city is stepping up and realizing they have to do something for these folks who live in a way that is not healthy. No one should be living like that. And no one should be living on a train for 10 years,' MTA chief safety officer Pat Warren told the New York Daily News.

Transit workers who are still forced to go to work have shared videos of what is happening to try to bring it to an end. 

MTA conductor Torry Chalmers, 48, posted clip Tuesday to demonstrate that every carriage on the 2 train contained several people who appeared to be sleeping or have slept on New York City transit

Many of the people filmed are seen alongside boxes, luggage items and bags. Several are splayed out across the seats.

'This is what they making me do, transporting the homeless and the virus at the same time thru every Borough of NY,' Chalmers wrote in a caption for the footage shared on his Facebook page.

'Transit workers need Hazard Pay ASAP. The Gov, Mayor or High official Transit personnel don't care about us. Make these videos go viral, maybe we can stop the spread of this killer virus.'

Chalmers is heard saying on the recording: 'I got to send this to the governor, let him see this s**t.

'This is what I gotta do. I gotta go to work in this. It's not making any sense. It's nasty, nasty.'

Chalmers is based in the Bronx area and has worked for the MTA for 25 years.

While displaced people are often seen taking advantage of the busy underground transportation network, Chalmers said the issue has gotten worse with the trains less crowded due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent stay-at-home orders.

'There could be seven homeless spread out in each car. 

'They trash the train — it's too many of them and every day it's getting worse,' Chalmers told the New York Post about how the situation has escalated. 

'I get on the train and hope and pray there aren't a lot of homeless people.'

Chalmers added that genuine passengers are worried about the homeless people on the train too.