Train Delays Lead to 35,000 Wasted Hours for Riders Every Morning: Budget Office

The city’s independent budget office is putting numbers to the amount of time subway riders are wasting waiting for trains, and it’s pretty eye-popping.

Overall, the average number of hours lost to delays system-wide during the weekday morning rush grew by 45.5 percent in five years — from 24,000 wasted hours each morning in 2012 to nearly 35,000 hours in the 12-month period ending in May 2017, the IBO says.

To get the numbers, the IBO got MTA performance data and added up the hours riders spent waiting for trains beyond their scheduled intervals. They then compared it to previous years.

No subway line was spared the rise in wait times, with every one of them experiencing at least a 25 percent increase in hours lost waiting on the platform.

The most significant increase was on the J/Z line, where riders saw a 72.4 percent increase. The C line (69 percent) and the 7 line (62 percent) saw the second and third biggest upticks.

Remember using a token to get onto the subway? Soon MetroCards will be a distant memory, too. The MTA is working on a new way for you to access your rides. Andrew Siff reports.

Riders on the 3 line had the lowest increase, at 25 percent, followed by the G line (26 percent) and 4 line (31 percent).

From day to day, riders of the 5, A and F lines have it the worst. According to the IBO, those are the lines with the greatest number of hours lost on a typical morning rush during the 12-month period ending in May. Riders of the 5 train lost 2,809 hours on a typical weekday morning, while A riders lost 2,775 hours and F riders lost 2,524 hours.

Here's a breakdown of the increase in delays for each subway line from 2012 through May 2017 (and the hours of delay during a typical weekday rush): 

1 - 57.5 percent (1,218 hours)

2 - 49.6 percent (2,234 hours)

3 - 24.7 percent (1,732 hours) 

4 - 30.6 percent (2,439 hours) 

5 - 37.7 percent (2,809 hours) 

6 - 45.5 percent (2,078 hours) 

7 - 61.6 percent (1,125 hours)

A - 38.0 percent (2,775 hours) 

B - 60.7 percent (1,633 hours)

C - 68.6 percent (1,548 hours) 

D - 35.3 percent (1,833 hours)

E - 49.6 percent (1,816 hours)

F - 47.8 percent (2,524 hours)

G - 25.9 percent (274 hours)

J/Z - 72.4 percent (960 hours) 

L - 42.6 percent (1,172 hours)

M - 53.7 percent (1,799 hours)

N - 46.1 percent (1,787 hours)

Q - 56.7 percent (1,715 hours)

R - 39.7 percent (1,431 hours)

The MetroCard may go the way of the token in the next decade. Rana Novini Reports.
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