It's pretty apparent in this thread the people who are taking the train late at night and those who don't.
No one is saying it's the Lord of the Flies out there, but last winter I had to disembark my train twice in a week due to "biohazards" in the form of the splattered blood from the fight/assault that took place.
As someone who frequently uses the NE train at all hours of the day, and have been for a decade, I've seen numerous incidents (fights, assaults, needles,) or near-incidents (threats, challenges, yelling, just weirdos). These aren't insignificant numbers, although I've been on the train literally thousands of times.
I think for children the good ol' playground zone rule of thumb would be fine for me. One hour after sunset, before looking or planning other transportation. I'm as far from a helicopter you'll get, especially as I have no children so I don't need to concern myself with hypothetical what-ifs, but it's not a negligible risk taking C-Train in the evening.
And yes, I would have no issue saying it has gotten worse over the last decade. I use to wear my headphones, zone out and even sleep without concern for my surroundings, but that's not quite the case when I'm taking it back at 1 AM any more.
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