NYC Subway Delays Are Growing; No, Really????
Straight from the desk of “Captain Obvious”, the New York City Transit department of the MTA is reporting that nyc subway delays are growing. We as straphangers did not need them to tell us this as we already knew that based on our commutes. However the agency decided to share the statistics over the weekend. Oh & in case you were wondering, the agency considers trains late if they arrive at their terminals more than 5 minutes late. So lets go to the stats….
According to New York City Transit, on average nearly 7% of weekday trains ran late during a 12 month period that ended September 30th. This is up from the 3% average from 2003. The biggest culprit was track work & various construction work which accounted for an average of 2,235 delays a month. The next biggest culprit was signal problems which accounted for an average of 657 delays a month. My fellow straphangers were third on the list with the ever annoying door holding which accounted for an average of 518 delays a month.
The worst part of this “Captain Obvious” report is the suggestion that came from New York City Transit President Howard H. Roberts Jr. in which he states that a possible solution to the problem could be a cutback in the amount of rush hour trains. According to this brilliant man, this might lessen backups.
Mr. Roberts I urge you to put down the drink or whatever you are smoking as it is clearly causing you to lose your mind. Most of our system is bursting at the seams so how in the world could you think that cutting back on rush hour trains would help with delays. Common sense would show that such a plan would lead to even further delays.
Lets imagine some cutbacks on the busiest & most important trunk in the system, the Lexington Avenue lines. We at times have delays especially on the express due to trains running at capacity & being packed like a can of sardines. Now lets say we cutback a few rush hour trains, what do you think will happen next? The stations which are already crowded as it is will become even more crowded as there will be less trains to take them out of the station. Lets not forget that with decreasing the amount of trains, you are just leading to the scenario where people will be forced to pass on trains as they can’t fit. Oh & don’t think for one second people won’t try to squeeze in to such trains which will lead to dwelling delays which can cause a domino effect up & down the line.
While I doubt the agency would cutback on Lexington Avenue rush hour trains, the same scenario can be translated to every other line in the system. The fact is the idea of cutting back on rush hour service is not only a horrible idea but I will guarantee it will lead to even further delays. I will even go on the record to say that if such a plan was implemented system wide, New York City Transit will see the on average percentage of delays double at minimum!
It is clearly time to go back to the drawing board Howard!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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