NYC woman goes viral for locking herself to subway pole
She’s locked into this subway safety hack.
A Bronx straphanger has gone viral on TikTok for her extreme advice on how to stay safe when riding the subway — by strapping herself to the nearest platform pole.
Wanda Vela posted the shocking tip Monday. She shared it by posting a video showing her attaching herself to a pole using a bike lock while she waits for a train.
“It’s bad out here. People want to push people into trains — that ain’t gonna happen to me,” Vela deadpanned.
After putting on the bike lock, and placing it around her waist and platform pole, she then locked it with a key.
“I got my own chain. “This is how I live, and I always wait patiently for the train. I stay right here,” Vela said.
Her insistence was that she unlocks the bike chain only when it stops alongside the platform.
“That’s it. Then I’m going on the train — boom,” Vela said as she unlocked the chain.
TikTok has already viewed the video more than 2,000,000 times. Although it is not clear if Vela was being facetious, many New Yorkers were able to relate to the unusual safety advice.
“I know some ppl take this as a joke… but if you take the train, this is a REAL fear,” one viewer commented on the clip.
“I hold on to the pole anytime the train is coming. She’s not exaggerating the dangers,” another person replied.
This comes as a result of several subway criminals being forced onto tracks in the Big Apple by straphangers last month.
One of the latest involved a robber shoving a 36-year-old woman in the Times Square 42nd Street station before good Samaritans rushed in to rescue her.