Subway surfers are dying right and left, with videos of their gruesome deaths circulating on the internet.
Yet, somehow, copycats are undeterred. In fact, some feel the deadly reminders add to the thrill for clout chasing kids desperate for TikTok stardom.
“Some surfers plainly do it because they just wanna go viral,” Rey, a 17-year-old from the Bronx, told The Post.
The latest senseless fatality happened May 22, when two teens fell from a J train crossing the Williamsburg Bridge in front of oncoming traffic — horrifically caught on camera by a motorist.
A 14-year-old, Akhi Butler, was killed instantly and an 18-year-old was transported to the hospital in critical condition in that incident. Two girls, one just 13-years-old, died subway surfing the same stretch in October last year.
Riding outside of subway cars has increased 200% over two years, according to MTA data, largely fueled by social media videos. In 2024, seven people died while subway surfing. Five more total died in 2025.
Clinical psychologist Holly Schiff pointed out locations like the Williamsburg Bridge are popular “because they’re visually dramatic.”
“The skyline views, the height, the openness, it kind of creates almost a cinematic feeling [that’s] appealing for videos and social media content,” she said.
It’s also one of the longest points between two stations — between Delancey Street/Essex Street station in Manhattan to Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn — which is overground and offers views of both Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Still, the view is the same for those sitting inside the train car or walking the bridge’s pedestrian crossing, both of which have no risk of electrocution from the third rail, being swiped from atop the subway car by a low hanging bar or a person losing their footing and suffering horrific blunt force trauma.
Isa Islam, who lost his eyesight in 2013 from subway surfing as a teen, said the appeal for him was the adrenaline rush.
“My intentions to get an adrenaline rush nearly rushed me into my casket,” he told The Post. “It is not worth it whatsoever, regardless of interest or the excitement. It’s basically attempted murder on yourself.”
Other subway surfers have described the experience as “a rush unlike anything else” and “a good feeling,” also, bizarrely, claiming it is a “form of art” and “a form of expression.”
One of the most shocking aspects of subway surfing is how young many participants are. The NYPD said they have apprehended more than 60 repeat offenders, some of whom were just 10 years old. Several were stopped just days after the most recent accident — showing just how undeterred some teens and tweens can be by tragedy.
One 2025 victim was 12-year-old Zemfira Mukhtarov, whose body was discovered on top of a train last October.
“We never heard about subway surfing. We have nothing to do with subway surfing,” her mother, Nataliya Rudenko, told The Post, “My husband and I are hard-working people.”
“I have no idea what made her do this. How can I explain? No one knows,” the 42-year-old mother said. “She was a very intelligent person. She was never looking for action.”
Rudenko would come to believe her daughter chose “to go and surf the bridge” because she “wanted more action,”
It’s frustrating to her grieving mother, who says she spent all the money she could muster to take her daughter on trips to educate her.
“She went all over. I spent all this money so she could see the world,” she said. “I don’t understand why she felt the need to get up there on top of a train, when she knows it’s dangerous and people told her it’s dangerous.”
She says she found a video her daughter posted to TikTok after her death where “she is on the top of the Williamsburg Bridge, [pretending to] hold our city on her hand.” She was living a double life, posting videos of herself under the tracks and between cars with online friends, all to get internet popularity.
As well as the Williamsburg Bridge, sources told The Post almost anywhere cars travel out in the open uncovered in the outer boroughs are susceptible to surfers. The 7 train running through Queens is another route where many kids subway surf, particularly around Queensboro Plaza station.
Schiff says teens’ brains “are not always deterred by danger” and that seeing other people get hurt can create a “paradoxical reaction” and motivate them to prove that they can do better.
“There’s often a mindset of ‘I’ll be more careful’ [or] ‘I know what I’m doing,’” she said. “They think those people messed up somehow, and that they will do it better and be smarter.”
YouTuber Tommy G interviewed an anonymous subway surfer who said that “all the [public safety] announcements are literally fueling the fire.”
“In reality, kids will see [or hear] that, they’ll look up subway surfing on Instagram, and they’ll literally hop on top of a train because they see people are discouraging it,” he said.
Matthew Bergman, lawyer at the Social Media Victims Law Center, says subway surfing is exactly the sort of thing that draws eyeballs online: “You get a greater dopamine hit from material that is discordant, disturbing, outrageous, than you do material that is, benign and affirming.”
“I’ve seen videos on TikTok sort of romanticizing it,” said a Manhattan high school senior who said that she’s been barraged with point-of-view videos of local teen subway surfing.
“There’s been videos on my For You page with pretty sunset views of the city on top of the subways, and the comments are all positive, talking about how vibey it is and how they want to do it too.”
An Instagram video of teens surfing with a sunset behind them attracted comments like “🔥🔥,” “sky looks amazing,” and “what a view.” On another news video about the phenomenon, people commented, “That’s a tradition in NY” and “stop spoiling people’s fun.”
A spokesperson for Meta said that videos encouraging subway surfing violate their policies and are removed when the company becomes aware of them. “While this is an industry-wide challenge, we will continue to work with MTA to address this issue,” they added.
A TikTok spokesperson said that they’ve blocked search terms related to subway surfing. While both Instagram and TikTok has blocked searches for the term “subway surfing,” TikTok has also blocked obvious variations like “surfing subway,” which Instagram has, so far, failed to do.
The NYPD has tried everything from drones to social media surveillance to fight the trend. A spokesperson for New York City public schools told The Post they are also making public service announcements and presentations to families about subway surfing.
In Rudenko’s opinion, the solution is more surveillance and more security at the highest-risk spots.
“We have 472 subway stations, but they have to put security at [any] dangerous station where the kids can sneak onto cars,” she demanded. “Police need to not sit in the office just doing nothing.”
“The city needs to protect our kids,” she lamented. “That’s our future.”
