The city’s Independent Budget Office has published yet another study that details how commuters are affected by the ailing subway system. Earlier this month, the IBO revealed that subway delays are costing New Yorkers roughly $864,000 a day in lost work time. If that wasn’t depressing enough, the IBO’s latest study illustrates just how many hours passengers are spending waiting on subway platforms.
The average number of passenger hours lost to delays systemwide during the weekday morning rush has increased by 45 percent from 2012 through May 2017, from just over 24,000 hours to nearly 35,000 hours, says the report. Per the New York Post, this breaks down to 1.1 years worth of wait time each morning.
While delays have increased on every subway line, hours of delay have spiked the most on the J/Z, the C, and the 7 lines the most with increases going up 71 percent, 69 percent, and 62 percent, respectively. Hours of delay on the 3 line has decreased the least on the 3 line, which is up 25 percent; the G line, up 26 percent; and the 4 line, at 31 percent.
The A line and the F line were found to have the greatest number of average hours lost on a typical weekday, at 2,775 hours and 2,524 hours, respectively.
In a statement to the Post, an MTA spokesperson both disputed the IBO’s findings and acknowledged subway delays at the same time, saying that the study relied on old figures but the wait times are why the agency has implemented a subway action plan.
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