New York City Transit Riders Council

PRESS RELEASE #320

August 21, 2000
10:30 AM

Subway Sudy Finds IRT (Numbered) Trains Least Reliable in System

The New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) today released the report, Timing Is Everything: A Field Study of Subway Service Reliability. The report details the results of an examination of the reliability of morning-peak and afternoon subway service from the rider's perspective.

The NYCTRC surveyed the arrival and departure times for all subway lines and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle-­1,300 train movements in all-­and compared this data with NYC Transit's own schedule and reliability information. NYC Transit sets specific waiting times, or headways, between every train in order to ensure that the ridership needs of each line are appropriately met. When trains arrive too early or too late, onboard and platform crowding are often the result. To be considered reliable in the field study, trains had to arrive within ± 50 percent of the scheduled waiting time since the previous train. This is the same method used by NYC Transit, itself, to determine reliability.

The report found reliability to have improved slightly since 1996. However, the Council still recorded numerous instances of unscheduled gaps between trains and erratic service, and found a wide disparity in reliability between numbered and lettered trains.

Nine lines exhibited reliability figures below 80 percent, including almost all A-Division IRT (numbered) lines. This means that customers who ride these lines­the 1/9, 4, 5, 6, 7, B, J/Z, M, and R­can expect more than one out of every five trains to be delayed. For riders who regularly travel to work using these lines, this means that delays can be expected more than twice a week. The Council finds this frequency of delays unacceptable. Moreover, of these lines, reliability on the 1/9, 4, 5, 7, and M appears to have worsened since 1996.

Of even greater concern, some of these poorly performing trains­the 4, 5, 7, J/Z, M, and R­actually were less reliable on a day-to-day basis than lines which experienced planned service diversions and unplanned delays. This may represent serious systemic problems on these lines.

Riders of B-Division (lettered) trains fared much better in the study. Half of all lettered trains exhibited overall reliability levels at 90 percent or better and two B-Division lines, the C and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, performed with perfect (100%) reliability during the study.

The study also questioned a proposal by NYC Transit to adopt a new measure of reliability called wait assessment. In the Council's opinion, the new measure cannot accurately represent the impact of delays on riders, especially for trains with shorter headways as occur on most lines during rush hours, and may actually inflate reliability figures when no real improvement has occurred.

At a press conference held by the NYCTRC to discuss its findings, Chairperson Andrew Albert said, "It's amazing that on some of the best-used lines in the system riders should expect the worst service. Especially on the IRT, our study shows that customers really have little assurance that their train will arrive in a timely fashion or even at all. We hope that NYC Transit takes these findings seriously and addresses the root causes of irregularities in service on these lines."

The full report may be downloaded via the below link, or may be requested directly from the NYCTRC.

DOWNLOAD THIS PRESS RELEASE (PDF format)

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT (PDF format)