[title]
We apologize in advance for being the ones to deliver bad news but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) just proposed service changes that will greatly affect your commuting habits starting next summer.
Specifically, transit officials are hoping to cut service on seven subway lines—the 1, 6, 7, L, E, F and Q—on Mondays and Fridays. The changes will effectively add up to 30 seconds of extra wait time per passenger (which, in MTA terms, might actually translate to 30 minutes).
The proposal is obviously based on data. "Subway ridership overall has been consistently lower on Mondays and Fridays than midweek days, reflecting the growing trend of hybrid work," said New York City transit president Rich Avey to MTA board members during a monthly meeting by way of explanation. "Our suggested changes will add wait times from three to 30 seconds [...] for specific time periods affected by the change."
The good news is that, to address a slightly higher demand for trains during weekdays, officials are also planning on increasing service on the G, J and M lines starting June. What's more, rush hour service on the A and C lines, which run through the west side of town, will start earlier during weekdays.
"The facts are [that] people are coming back on the weekends, [they] are staying home in some respects on Mondays and Fridays," said Davey. "That's what this very small proposal reflects."
Overall, the changes might amount to $1.5 million in savings for the MTA.
The agency has been dealing with lower ridership numbers since the pandemic first hit. According to official data, a total of 3 million people took the subway on Monday, December 19. As staggering as that number sounds, it actually amounts to less than 60% of pre-pandemic ridership levels for that specific day. That percentage has been holding steady throughout the week this past year, climbing up to 70%-80% on the weekends.
Given the fact that the affected routes are some of the subway lines that New Yorkers hate the most, we expect transportation chaos to ensue come the summer. We live in New York, after all.