The subways got a little cleaner and a bit more reliable this year, but overall commuters on the C line have long waits and dirty cars, while on the 7 line you're likely to get to work on time -- and maybe even get a seat on your way there.
The Straphangers Campaign today released its annual "State of the Subways" report card, which breaks down the good, bad and ugly of the 22 subway lines.
The report comes a day before the MTA is due to vote on another round of fare hikes.
Again this year, the report ranked the 7 line the best in the system " because it performs best in the system on subway car cleanliness and above average on four measures: frequency of scheduled service, regularity of service, delays caused by mechanical breakdowns, and seat availability at the most crowded point," the data found.
The C was again ranked the worst subway line with its below average performance on five measures: amount of scheduled service, delays caused by mechanical breakdowns and announcements (all three next to worst); regularity of service; and cleanliness.
Overall, the report found large disparities in how subway lines perform on measured areas of cleanliness, breakdowns, chance of getting a seat, amount of scheduled service, regularity of service and clarity of in-car announcements.
There was a slight improvement from this year over last, with fewer breakdowns reported and improved announcements, the report found.
Find out how your line did here.
Meanwhile, the outlook was not so positive for the Long Island Rail Road, also run by the MTA. The trains arrived late more often in 2010 than in the first nine months of any year since 2005, according to agency figures.
In the first nine months of 2010, 92.4 percent of trains were on time. In 2009, 95.6 percent of all trains were on time in the same, the figures show.
Until this year, the LIRR had improved its on-time performance records for four straight January-September time-frames.
