Taggers hit subway cars on Upper East Side

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Subway cars on the Upper East Side were found covered in graffiti in a scene reminiscent of the transit system's dirty past.

Two cars that were parked at the 96th St. station on the new Q line were covered with paint.  It happened Sunday night around 9 p.m.

It is the second time in less than a year that trains were targetted by taggers at that station.  A previous photo posted to a Facebook page for Transit Workers Union members showed an entire train completely covered in graffiti at the station.

A recent report in THE CITY showed an increase in the number of MTA subway cars getting hit by vandals.  In 2018, there were 765 cars on 443 trains that had "major graffiti hits" according to MTA data.  The agency spent $610,956 in 2018 on graffiti cleaning costs.  That is an increase of 364% in just two years.

Last August, a Queens man was arrested after a long term investigation into graffiti on New York City subway trains.  In that case, a 28-year-old man was accused of a large scale graffiti vandalism to numerous trains throughout the city.