The MTA reached a COVID milestone this week, breaking the 2.5 million daily trip mark.


What You Need To Know

  • Overall, the MTA ran nearly 94% of scheduled weekday rush hour service last month, while in May 2020, the MTA ran nearly all of it

  • The number of trains running on time, down to 87%, an 8% decrease from the same month, last year

  • The F line was the worst performing line, with more than a quarter of its trains delayed

“Way more people on the train and they’re totally not doing the social distancing thing, so that’s completely out the window," said one straphanger waiting for the F train at 14th Street.

But with more riders, there's more delays and fewer trains running.

New statistics from the MTA show a decline in the number of trains hitting the rails and reaching their last stop on time, across all subway lines in May.

Overall, the MTA ran nearly 94% of scheduled weekday rush hour service last month, while in May 2020, the MTA ran nearly all of it.

And the number of trains running on time, down to 87%, an 8% decrease from the same month, last year.

The F line was the worst performing line, with more than a quarter of its trains delayed.

“Absolutely, no doubt about it. F train is the worst train," said F train commuter Taylor Hagenberg.

Hagenberg, commutes from Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, to Midtown, where she works at as a receptionist at a veterinarian clinic in Midtown.

“Service has been pretty slow, if I’m being honest. It’s been slow," she said. "This morning, I was on the train for a lot longer than I should have been."

Last month, signal malfunctions and track problems, severely disrupted service, each incident, disrupting on average over a hundred trains.

And the MTA has canceled train runs because there were no crews to run them a problem caused by retirements and a hiring freeze that was lifted in late winter.

The stats, however, show that the subway is still running at quote, “historic highs,” an MTA spokeswoman said, as it carries about two and a half million people a day, compared to pre-pandemic, when the subway carried over five million people a day.

Some riders notice it.

“I think everything is working fine, there’s not so many people on the train, they clean them well, they’re on-time, schedule is good," said a rider.

Evelyn Schoop, an F line commuter, also thought service was running well. But she had another concern.

“We need more cops. We definitely need more cops on the platforms," Schoop said. "Especially in this section here, upstairs. There’s a lot of homeless, a lot of things going on, we don't see no cops around, anywhere.”

The NYPD counted an increase last month in felony assaults, robberies and grand larceny crimes, like pick pocketing

MTA says in a statement that it’ll work to make the trains more reliable, and are quickly hiring and training as many crews as possible, as the agency recovers from what it calls an unprecedented hiring freeze.