Service Plan Will Reallocate Resources to Better Meet Post-COVID Travel Trends
and Lines Will See Additional Scheduled Trips Weekends, Lowering Headways Up to 2 Minutes
Express and Weekday Rush Hour Service to Begin Earlier to Reflect New Rush Hour Patterns
Targeted Service Adjustments to Monday and Friday Service on and Lines
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit today announced targeted service adjustments coming to subway schedules in June that better reflect post-COVID travel patterns. The New York City subway will reallocate scheduled service to better serve periods of higher ridership by increasing scheduled trips on the weekends and by modifying Monday and Friday scheduled service, where ridership recovery has shown to be the slowest.
“We continually analyze ridership patterns to better serve riders,” said New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “These adjustments reflect higher ridership recovery on the weekends, and lower relative ridership on Mondays and Fridays in the post-COVID hybrid work era. As riders continue to return to mass transit and patterns change, New York City Transit will adapt service accordingly as we strive to provide faster, cleaner and safer rides.”
“The goal is to always meet customer needs by providing the best possible service,” said New York City Transit SVP of Subways Demetrius Crichlow. “These changes look to accomplish this by shuffling the board around, focusing on the higher periods of ridership recovery, and adjusting periods where ridership has not returned as quickly.”
“Discretionary travel has led the subway recovery from the depths of its pandemic dip, with weekend ridership recovery outpacing weekdays,” said New York City Transit Weekend Subway Czar Jose LaSalle. “Increasing weekend trips on the and lines will make it easier for Brooklyn and Queens riders to move around the city to meet up with friends, family and experience the million other things New York City has to offer.”
The changes will add scheduled trips to the and lines on weekends, improving headways by approximately 2 minutes. These three lines are used by Brooklyn and Queens riders to transfer to other subway lines and have longer waiting time between trains on the weekends than many other lines.
New York City Transit is also proposing an earlier start to weekday express/local rush hour service to reflect post-COVID morning rush hour patterns. Manhattan-bound express service will commence one trip earlier during the early morning rush hour to help riders in eastern Queens and the Rockaways. To complement the early start to express service, one rush hour trip will be shifted earlier in the morning.
To make these additional scheduled trips possible, New York City Transit will make strategic reductions to scheduled trips on Mondays and Fridays on the and lines. Subway ridership overall has been consistently lower on Mondays and Fridays than on mid-week days, reflecting the growing trend of hybrid office work.
The changes are expected to go into effect in June 2023.