MTA New York Metropolis Transit President Demetrius Crichlow with MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber at a Dec. 19, 2024 press convention on the 14th Road station on the 1/2/3 strains in Greenwich Village.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
My priorities for subway service as NYC Transit President are the identical as different New Yorkers’ – I would like it to be secure, quick, and environment friendly. The best metropolis on this planet calls for and deserves one of the best. This 12 months, I’m proud to say we’re delivering one of the best subway service in over a decade.
On-time efficiency (OTP) has improved each month this 12 months in comparison with 2024, and April was our greatest month in current historical past, with 85% of weekday trains arriving on time. Delays are down, and efficiency, ridership, and buyer satisfaction are all on the rise. There’s at all times room for enchancment, however that is all price celebrating.
Don’t overlook, our system is 120 years previous. Lots of the elements the subway depends on — from energy to alerts to rail automobiles – have been in use for many years. Some dates way back to the FDR administration! So, it takes fixed upkeep to maintain service working easily 24 hours a day, 7 days every week. There’s a motive why so few of our international friends are open all evening, all 12 months.
Two strains stand out this 12 months for positive factors, the 6 and the J. Underneath the management of Line Managers Daybreak Sobers and Mahamuda Ferdous, efficiency on the 6 is up over 10% versus final 12 months, whereas the J and Z trains have a mixed OTP of over 90% — one of the best we’ve ever seen.
How did we do it? By specializing in information and upkeep to run higher service.
On the 6, we carried out progressive new techniques to enhance schedules and higher dispatch trains. On the J, the Subways workforce wrote a brand new service plan that permits us to carry out important inspection and upkeep work extra effectively to scale back delays.
The objective is to stop incidents from occurring within the first place. Upkeep of Manner crews are changing observe quicker than ever earlier than. Particular hassle spots within the system like error-prone alerts obtain further rounds of inspections to maintain them in good working order.
I’m extremely pleased with the workforce that’s delivering traditionally robust subway service. This 12 months, we’ve welcomed new management in Senior Vice President Invoice Amarosa Jr. and Chief Officer Tom Calandrella on the Operations Management Heart. Like me, each come from multi-generational transit households. They’re lifelong New Yorkers, they usually’re getting massive issues completed for our riders.
We’re hardly resting on success. With important investments within the new 2025-2029 Capital Plan – suppose new subway automobiles and plenty of State of Good Restore work — I’m pushing the workforce to lift the bar and drive efficiency even greater within the years to return.
Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York Metropolis Transit president.
