Commuters stroll previous the platform boundaries on the eighth Avenue subway station in Manhattan.
Photograph by Dean Moses
A billion individuals symbolize one eighth of the world’s inhabitants. It’s additionally the variety of prospects we’ve served on the New York Metropolis subway thus far this yr. We bought there final Tuesday with 11 weeks nonetheless left to go in 2025 – the shortest time but since COVID.
Greenpoint resident Zayd Nubani was our fortunate one billionth buyer. We stunned him on the Lafayette Av C station with MTA swag and a $100 OMNY card whereas he was on his technique to surf the nor’easter waves at Rockaway Seaside. He stated he rides the subway day-after-day, even together with his longboard.
We recognize his patronage, and that of each New Yorker, customer and vacationer who’s helped us attain this milestone. It’s not nearly bragging rights — transit ridership is without doubt one of the finest markers we have now for charting New York’s comeback. When the subway is doing properly, so is the Metropolis, and we’ve been working exhausting the previous couple of years to carry up our finish of the discount.
New York Metropolis Transit is working extra subway service than pre-COVID, with the most effective on-time efficiency (OTP) in over a decade — 85% in September. That’s on par with our most up-to-date document in Might, and an enormous enchancment over the late 2010s, when OTP dropped as little as the 50s and 60s throughout the Summer time of Hell.
It was a acutely aware option to wager massive on extra service whereas the post-COVID fiscal cliff compelled lots of our friends throughout the nation to make robust cuts. Fortunately, we have now a Governor and State Legislature that understands the very important significance of transit to New York.
Riders are additionally coming again as a result of they really feel safer. We’ve labored with the State and Metropolis to get extra cops into the system and extra psychological well being outreach. We’ve put in tens of 1000’s of safety cameras, plus platform boundaries in 100 subway stations in addition to brighter LED lighting.
Consequently, total crime is down greater than 12% in comparison with 2019, and buyer satisfaction with security has hardly ever been greater. In our final month-to-month ballot, nearly 70% of respondents gave us a positive ranking — a rise of 14 factors simply this yr.
We hope to see continued progress in our Fall Clients Rely survey, which went reside final week on the MTA web site. It takes simply 10-Quarter-hour to fill out, however for us the suggestions is priceless. It helps us get a way of what’s working and what wants enchancment within the new yr, so we will get to the following ridership milestone. Two billion prospects — right here we come!
