News Release

Straphangers Campaign Issues Annual “State of the Subways” Report

Best: 7 with “MetroCard Rating” of $1.55; L in Second at $1.50 Rating;

Both Routes in “Line General Manager Program”

Worst Line: C at 50¢

The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign today issued its twelfth annual “State of the Subways” Report Card, rating the 7 as the best of 21 subway lines with a “MetroCard Rating” of $1.55 and the C the worst with a rating of 50 cents. The L line came in second with a $1.50 MetroCard Rating.

Both the 7 and L are run by Line General Managers who have been given a greater degree of independence and accountability to the riders, along with more cleaning resources. Last year, the L came in first and the 7 second. The rest of the numbered lines entered the program in October 2008; soon the lettered lines will. None of these additional lines will be given extra cleaners.

The 42-page report is based on an extensive review of official data on subway service, much of which has not been released before on a line-by-line basis. It includes detailed one-page profiles of 22 lines and a Straphangers Campaign MetroCard Rating.

The profiles show six measures of service, based on recent data from MTA New York City Transit, largely covering the last half of 2008. The measures are: the frequency of scheduled service; the regularity of train arrivals; mechanical failures of subway cars; chance of getting a seat at the most congested point; cleanliness of subway car floors and seats; and adequacy of announcements.

“In 2008 the 7 and the L benefited from more independent managers and more resources,” said Gene Russianoff, Straphangers Campaign senior attorney. “As the subways are run by managers with greater authority and accountability, we hope that they can improve service, even if the lines are not getting added cleaning staffing and will absorb cuts in maintenance and station personnel.”
Russianoff noted that the report’s MetroCard Ratings were a shorthand tool to compare lines and are based on a formula developed in consultation with independent transportation experts. A line could receive a rating of $2.25 if it scored, on average, in the top 5% on the six measures of service.

The report’s findings show the following picture of how New York City’s subways are doing:

1. The best subway line in the city is the 7 with a “MetroCard Rating” of $1.55. The 7 ranked highest because it performs above average on five measures: frequency of scheduled service, regularity of service, delays caused by mechanical breakdowns, seat availability and fewer dirty cars. The line did not get a higher rating because it performed average on announcements. The 7 runs between Times Square in Manhattan and Flushing in Queens.
   
   
2. The L came in second behind the 7 with a MetroCard Rating of $1.50. The L performed above average on five measures — frequency of scheduled service, regularity of service (first place), delays caused by mechanical breakdowns, dirty cars (first place) and announcements. The line did not get a higher rating because it performed in last place on the chance of getting a seat during rush hour. The L runs between 14th Street/Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Canarsie, Brooklyn. In our 2008 survey, the L line performed best. (See Table Three.)
   
   
3. Both the L and 7 are in a “line general managers” program, which has promise to improve service. According to an October 27, 2008 release by New York City Transit, this program is “an ambitious pilot endeavor aimed at improving subway service by putting the responsibility for individual lines into the hands of transit professionals who are ready, willing and able to tackle problems, address customer concerns and take a hands-on approach to running their own railroads.” We are able to compare only half of the measures in our 2008 report to this one: On the 7, the number of cars that were clean and had correct announcements improved, with the breakdown rate largely unchanged. On the L, clean cars increased and announcements stayed close to 100%. However, car breakdowns worsened by 19%; line managers are accountable for car breakdown rates.
   
   
4. The C was ranked the worst subway line, with a MetroCard Rating of 50 cents. The C line ranked worst on car breakdowns and performs below average on all five other measures: level of scheduled service, regularity of service, chance of getting a seat during rush hour, car cleanliness and announcements. The C line operates between East New York in Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan. In last year’s survey, the W was ranked as the worst line.
   
   
5. Overall, we found a mixed picture for subway service on the three measures we can compare over time — car breakdowns, car cleanliness and announcements. (We were unable to compare the three remaining measures due to changes in the methodology by New York City Transit.)
   
   
   • The car breakdown rate worsened from an average mechanical failure every 149,646 miles in 2007 to 134,795 in 2008 — a drop of almost 10%. This is a poor trend, raising questions about the maintenance of an aging fleet. We found: fifteen lines worsened (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, A, C, E, F, G, L, Q, R and V), while seven lines improved (2, B, D, J/Z, M, N and W).
     
     
   • Accurate and understandable subway car announcements improved, going from 85% in our last report to 90% in the current report. We found that: sixteen lines improved (1, 6, 7, A, B, C, E, F, G, J/Z, M, N, Q, R, V and W), two worsened slightly (D and L) and four remained unchanged (2, 3, 4 and 5).
   
   
   • Subway cars went from 87% rated clean in our last report to 91% in our current report. We found sixteen lines improved (1, 5, 7, B, D, E, F, G, J/Z, L, M, N, Q, R, V and W), four worsened (4, 6, A and C) and two did not change (2 and 3).


6. There are large disparities in how subway lines perform.¹
   
   
   • Breakdowns: The N had the best record on delays caused by car mechanical failures: once every 327,191 miles. The C was worst, with breakdowns five times more often: every 61,603 miles.
   
   
   • Cleanliness: The L was the cleanest line, with only 2% of cars having moderate or heavy dirt, while 20% of cars on the dirtiest line — the F — had moderate or heavy dirt, a rate ten times higher.
   
   
   • Chance of getting a seat: We rate a rider’s chance of getting a seat at the most congested point on the line. We found the best chance is on the V line, where riders had a 77% chance of getting a seat during rush hour at the most crowded point. The L ranked worst and was much more overcrowded, with riders having only a 24% chance of getting a seat.
   
   
   • Amount of scheduled service: The 6 line had the most scheduled service, with two-and-a-half minute intervals between trains during the morning and evening rush hours. The M ranked worst, with ten-minute intervals between trains all through the day.
   
   
   • Regularity of service: The L line had the greatest regularity of service, arriving within two to four minutes of its scheduled interval 93% of the time. The most irregular line is the 2, which performed with regularity only 81% of the time.
   
   
   • In-car announcements: The 2, 5, 6 and M lines had a perfect performance for adequate announcements made in its subway cars, missing no announcements, and reflecting the automation of announcements. The B was worst, missing announcements 27% of the time.
   
   

The full report can be found here.

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