MTA logs rail ridership increases

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday announced ridership increases on the New York City Transit (NYCT) subway, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad in September compared with the same month last year.

NYCT subway’s average weekday ridership was 5.77 million in September, up 4.5 percent compared with September 2018, MTA officials said in a press release.

Weekday subway on-time performance was nearly 83 percent in September – the fourth month in a row that the metric has been above 80 percent in five years. Seven non-shuttle lines achieved figures in excess of 80 percent and the 7 line, which is enabled with communications-based train control, experienced a 96 percent on-time performance rate.

MTA officials attributed the subway ridership increase — the first after years of declines — to improved service, local New York City news media reported.

Meanwhile, LIRR logged a 2 percent increase ridership, while Metro-North posted a 1 percent increase last month compared with September 2018.

The MTA commuter railroads together have carried nearly 2 million more people in 2019 through Sept. 30 than during the first nine months of 2018.

LIRR’s year-to-date on-time performance of nearly 93 percent through Sept. 30 is 2.4 percentage points higher than it was over the same time in 2018. 

The LIRR scheduled 1.3 percent more trains in 2019 through Sept. 30 than it did during the same period a year ago. Trains operating with fewer cars than their normal length was down nearly 24 percent, while trains’ mechanical reliability was up 7.4 percent.

Metro-North scheduled 142 more trains in 2019 through Sept. 30 than it had over that timeframe in 2018. Trains’ mechanical reliability surged 63 percent. Delays related to switch and signal problems fell to 741 through Sept. 30, down by more than half from 1,800 experienced during the prior year.