‘Used to it,’ subway riders go about life

NEW YORK – New Yorkers shrugged off fears of exploding baby carriages and went about their weekend routines Saturday as authorities debated whether a reported subway terrorism plot was a legitimate threat or an overblown hoax.

“It’s kind of like you’re used to it by now,” said Erica Ouda, 19, as she boarded a 4 train in lower Manhattan. “There’s always a threat.”

A Department of Homeland Security memo warned this week that a team of terrorists may have traveled to New York to put remote-controlled bombs in briefcases and baby carriages in an attack today or around today. It cautioned that the FBI and Homeland Security doubted the threat’s credibility.

But as U.S. forces interrogated three suspects in Iraq, New York officials said they felt even more confident about their decision to ramp up patrols and bag searches in the subways.

“We’ve over the last couple of days become more convinced that the threat was real,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Bloomberg was right to err on the side of caution.

“The secretary respects the mayor’s judgment and believes that the security precautions being taken by Mayor Bloomberg and other New York officials are absolutely an appropriate response,” he said in a statement.

Some said the rhythm of threat, police response and no attack had become just another element of life in the city since the 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. “If something was going to happen, it would have happened already,” said Shanti Stevenson, 20.

Police fielded 134 suspicious package calls Friday, up from 42 the day before the threat announcement. Police continued to race around the city to check on plastic bags and sacks of garbage Saturday.