NEW YORK >> New York City has long prided itself on its 24-hour subway, one of the world’s few round-the-clock transit systems and a symbol of the city’s relentless energy.

But since the coronavirus outbreak began, the subway has reflected the city’s deterioration: Ridership has plummeted by more than 90%, thousands of sick workers have hobbled the ability to run service, and the number of homeless people on trains has grown.

Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and transit officials took the extraordinary step of trying to restore the system by shutting it down from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., hoping to provide more time for the disinfecting of trains, equipment and stations during the pandemic.

The decision to halt regularly scheduled overnight service for the first time in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s history demonstrates the stark steps state officials are taking to preserve a system that is critical to reviving New York’s economy when businesses begin to reopen.

“We’ve never been here before,” said Cuomo, who instructed the MTA to devise a plan to clean more frequently earlier this week. “This is going to be one of the most aggressive, creative, challenging undertakings that the MTA has done.”

The overnight closure begins Wednesday, and the MTA said it would provide free, alternative means of transit to essential workers who need to travel during that time.

Public transit in New York City is the only system in the United States, and among the relatively few in the world, that runs 24 hours a day. The system has shut down only twice in the past decade — in 2011 for Hurricane Irene and in 2012 for Hurricane Sandy, both times for days. In 2015, the system halted passenger service but kept equipment trains running in response to a blizzard.

The decision to temporarily end late-night service will affect roughly 11,000 riders who have been using the system between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. in recent weeks, according to MTA officials.

Beginning next week, the transit agency will roll out a program offering riders who can prove their travel is essential two free trips on for-hire vehicles each night; it will also provide free rides on buses and in dollar vans. Essential workers will also be able to call a hotline to request a ride, MTA officials said.