2017–2021 New York City transit crisis

On November 18, 2017, The New York Times published its investigation into the crisis, with over 1,000 readers having submitted stories about the effects of the past year's subway delays. It found that politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties, at the mayoral and gubernatorial levels, had gradually removed $1.5 billion of MTA funding.[16] The Times stressed that no single event directly caused the crisis; rather, it was an accumulation of small cutbacks and maintenance deferments.[17] The New York Times described MTA funds as a "piggy bank" for the state, with the issuance of MTA bonds benefiting the state at the MTA's expense.[16] By 2017, a sixth of the MTA's budget was allocated to paying off debt, a threefold proportional increase from 1997. The city's $250 million annual contribution to the MTA budget in 2017 was a quarter of the contribution in 1990.[16]

The MTA's East Side Access, became the most expensive underground railway project in the world due to politicians' monetary mismanagement of the MTA,[18] as well as costly, inefficient union rules.[19]

The lack of funding was not only due to the gradual reduction of direct support. Other actions by city and state politicians, according to the Times, included overspending; overpaying unions and interest groups; advertising superficial improvement projects while ignoring more important infrastructure issues; and agreeing to high-interest loans in order to make up the deficit from the governmental reductions in funding.[16] In December of the same year, the Times reported that the $12 billion East Side Access project, which would extend the MTA's Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal upon its completion, was the most expensive project of its kind in the world. The predicted cost of $3.5 billion per mile ($2.2 billion per kilometer) was attributed to various unnecessary expenditures, including hiring additional workers for little reason, as well as uncompetitive bidding processes.[18]

The transit crisis was influenced partly by modifications to New York City Subway signals and work-zone policies that required trains to reduce their speeds.[20] After a collision between two trains on the Williamsburg Bridge in 1995, in which a train operator was killed after speeding his train into the back of another, the MTA modified both signals and trains to lower their average speeds.[21] Since some of the signals were malfunctioning, operators slowed trains further in case a defective signal forced trains to wait for longer than was indicated,[20] resulting in lower frequencies and overcrowded trains.[22] By 2012, over 1,200 signals had been modified,[21] and by 2018, that number had grown to 1,800.[20] Exacerbating the signal problems, some of the oldest block signals in the system were as much as 80 years old as of 2017, and they also broke down frequently.[23]

Subway trains were also forced to slow down due to work-zone rules.[20] These rules were created by a task force, and implemented in 2007 after a series of worker deaths.[24] Prior to 2007, if one track was out of service, trains on adjacent tracks could operate at normal speeds; the rule changes forced trains on adjacent tracks to travel at 10 miles per hour or less. As a result, the proportion of delays caused by track work increased by 10% between 2013 and 2014, while the amount of track work remained constant.[20]

A corresponding bus crisis existed simultaneously, however, it did not receive nearly as much media attention. In November 2017, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer identified several causes for the bus system's unreliability.[25][26] In the report, he stated that almost half of all bus routes ran at low frequencies during rush hours.[26]^: 22 He also reported that many bus routes were vulnerable to "bus bunching", where several buses travel the same route in quick succession.[26]^: 26 The average speeds of New York City buses were found to be 7 to 8 miles per hour (11 to 13 km/h),[25] the slowest of any major bus system nationwide.[26]^: 27–29 Additionally, Stringer wrote that long, winding bus routes caused bus speeds to slow down.[26]^: 36–28

The MTA hired Andy Byford as the president of the New York City Transit Authority in November 2017.[77][78] Previously CEO at the Toronto Transit Commission, Byford assumed his new position in January 2018. MTA leadership expected that Byford would be able to devise solutions to fix the NYCTA's reliability issues, particularly those of the subway.[79] Within the first few months of his job, Byford was devising long-term plans for the bus and subway systems.[73] In the five subsequent years, the subway's reliability increased from 58 percent to 80 percent.[80] Byford also hired Sarah Meyer as the MTA's "chief customer officer"; for five years, Meyer responded to rider complaints convinced the MTA to change its announcements, posters, and brochures so they were easier for customers to understand.[80]

On May 23, 2017, Governor Cuomo officially announced the Genius Transit Challenge, where contestants could submit ideas to improve signals, communications infrastructure, or rolling stock. The winner of each of the three challenges was to receive a million dollars and have their idea implemented systemwide; MTA employees were outright prohibited from applying.[81] The program drew criticism from industry observers and MTA staff, as it created the perception that outside input was more valued by sheer virtue of coming from outside the agency, rather than any relevant industry experience, such as that of career transportation professionals who actually worked at the agency.[82] The program was marketed to the tech industry and business professionals with little to no transit expertise, and was generally not promoted to private practitioners or researchers within the transportation industry itself.[83] Nineteen finalists for the Genius Transit Challenge were announced in December 2017, out of 438 applicants from 23 countries, most of whom were large companies.[84][85] Six winning submissions from eight entities were announced in March 2018.[86]

The Prospect Avenue station in 2017, prior to the declaration of the transit crisis; it has since been renovated under the Enhanced Station Initiative

Byford announced his subway and bus modernization plan at a MTA board meeting in May 2018. The plan involved upgrading signals on the subway system's five most heavily used physical lines; making 50 extra stations ADA-accessible; and installing an automatic train supervision system for routes that did not already have that system, which would help monitor train locations.[87] The bus system would be streamlined and reorganized to make the service more reliable.[88]^: 37 The plan would cost $43 billion over 15 years, including an initial expenditure of $19 billion over the first five years.[89]

Ten lines would receive automated signaling system by 2028. In addition to increase capacity, and to reduce reliance on important interlockings, potential route changes will be evaluated.[88]^{: 23, 25, 27} Also part of the plan was a new fare payment system that was to be implemented by 2020, as well as 3,650 new subway cars to be ordered by 2028, including 650 cars to be ordered by 2023.[88]^: 17 The program to add 50 more ADA-accessible stations during the 2020–2024 Capital Program would allow most riders to have an accessible station every two or three stops, and it would be more than double the 19 stations outlined in the then-current 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program.[88]^: 41 Byford's May 2018 proposal also included suggestions to improve the bus system. As part of the plan, the Staten Island express bus and Bronx local bus network would be re-evaluated, and bus priority measures would be added and enforced. Bus stops would be consolidated for faster service, and existing bus stops would be improved with bus shelters and real-time travel information.[88]^: 37 To get the MTA to work more efficiently, employee communications, processes, and hierarchies would also be reorganized.[88]^: 47 Conditions at stations will be improved through the appointment of "group station managers" to stations within a geographic area.[88]^: 29

In order to keep trains moving, New York City Transit started evaluating twenty places where signal timers affect service the most. Signal timers were added across the system since the fatal 1995 Williamsburg Bridge subway crash, so trains would be spaced further apart, thereby increasing safety. Some timers were installed in places where extra train spacing was unnecessary, increasing delays and reducing capacity. In addition, some timers had stopped functioning properly, forcing train operators to operate more slowly to ensure that their train did not activate the automatic braking system if they passed the signals at too high a speed. As part of Byford's plan, New York City Transit would ensure that signal timers were being cleaned and are functioning. In fall 2018, two new initiatives would begin on selected lines to reduce delays. The first initiative would ensure that train crews would be at the terminal to allow their train to leave on time, while the second would add countdown clocks for train operators so they can maintain speeds.[90]

Under the Fast Forward report, New York City Transit would conduct a one-year pilot program in which it would increase off-peak bus frequencies on the Q6, Q69, B17, B65, and S93 bus routes in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. These improvements would be implemented between September 2018 and January 2019. The Bx6 local bus route in the Bronx would also get articulated buses by January 2019 in order to increase passenger capacity.[91]^{: 237–243}[92]^{: 212–215} A separate program would involve removing every other stop on the Q22 route in Queens, as well as adjust schedules and short turn certain bus trips based on demand, in order to increase bus reliability. The Q22 changes would become effective in September 2018.[92]^{: 218–221}

The SIM1 route, one of the bus routes added in the reorganized Staten Island express bus system

The newly reorganized Staten Island express bus network went into effect on August 19, 2018.[93][94][95] The following day, Andy Byford held the first town hall for the Fast Forward plan at York College in Jamaica, Queens.[96][97] In internal emails released the same month, the MTA indicated that as a result of budget cuts, some subway staffing and car-cleaning jobs might be eliminated. In addition, the expansion of Select Bus Service in the outer boroughs would be halted until 2021 while the city's bus network was being re-evaluated.[98]

In the MTA's September 2018 board meeting, Byford stated that the subway was getting better. He said that in 2018, there were fewer major incidents that delayed 50 or more trains compared to in 2017, and the mean distance between failures (MDBF) for trains was higher than in the previous year. However, these figures included major-incident rates that were far above average in January 2018, and the MDBF figures in 2018 were much lower than in 2015.[99] The transit advocacy group Riders Alliance stated that in August 2018, there was only one weekday where the subway system did not experience delays due to signal or equipment malfunctions.[100][101] Subway trains had a 68% on-time rate in summer 2018; such a low reliability metric had not been seen since the 1970s transit crisis.[99] Byford also stated that, thus far, the MTA had cleaned 285 miles (459 km) of track, fixed 1,300 signals, and modified 1,600 subway cars as part of the Fast Forward plan.[99][102] At a subsequent event, Byford announced that 23 "group station managers" had been hired to manage groups of up to 25 stations each.[103][104]

In October 2018, New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli published a report stating that the MTA could have $42 billion in debt by 2022. This was exacerbated by the declines in subway and bus ridership, which could not be offset by higher fares alone.[105] Standard & Poor's had already reduced the MTA's credit rating and bond rating from an A+ to an A earlier that year because of the MTA's financial issues and political infighting.[106][107] Also that October, the MTA launched another competition, this one targeted toward technology companies. There were two challenges: one to reduce traffic congestion along bus routes, and one to predict and alleviate subway delays.[108][109] With the upcoming 14th Street Tunnel shutdown starting in April 2019, which would suspend service on the L train to Manhattan for a year, the MTA and New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) finalized their mitigation plans for the shutdown.[110]

Also in October 2018, it was revealed that the decline in subway ridership had accelerated in summer 2018, with a 2.5% decrease in weekday trips and an 8.8% decrease in weekend trips from August 2017 to August 2018.[111] In a 60 Minutes television segment about the state of the subway, published on October 21, it was mentioned that the increasing delays had led to dissatisfied customers who, in some cases, had physically assaulted conductors. In the segment, Byford described how communications-based train control (CBTC) implementation was the key part of his Fast Forward plan, and that as a result of an investment of $800 million in emergency funds, critical maintenance of the subway was being carried out. However, though on-time performance had increased slightly since the plan's implementation, riders did not notice the improvements for the most part, according to Byford.[112] By December 2018, the MTA had identified 130 locations in the subway system where the speed limit could be increased (or in some cases, doubled),[113][114] as well as 267 faulty timer signals that needed to be fixed.[115][116]

After the failure of the congestion pricing bill in early 2018, officials decided to look for other ways to fund the subway. In December 2018, an urban policy think tank proposed legalizing marijuana for non-medical uses in New York state, then collecting a tax to fund the New York City transit system.[117][118] The same month, the MTA announced that as many as four percent of subway riders and 16 percent of bus riders each day might not be paying fares, amounting to 208,000 subway riders and 384,000 bus riders per day. This indicated that the decline in ridership on the subway and bus systems might not be as severe as previously indicated, because ridership counts only included riders who paid fares.[119][120] In response, Byford stated that the MTA was studying ways to physically prevent fare evaders from jumping over subway turnstiles, or entering the rear doors of buses where they did not need to pay.[121]

In early January 2019, Cuomo announced that the 14th Street Tunnel would not completely shut down.[122][123][124] Following the announcement, Cuomo stated that he wanted to "blow up" the MTA and restructure its entire operating hierarchy. The governor cited frequent cost overruns for MTA contracts, as well as a lack of clear leadership in the agency, as reasons to rearrange the agency.[125][126] A few days later, de Blasio promised to improve the bus system in his State of the City address. His plan included raising bus speeds by 25% by the next year, increasing the enforcement of bus lanes, and adding bus priority signals to 1,200 intersections with traffic lights.[127][128]

Also in January 2019, the MTA announced that a new fleet of about 1,500 R262 subway cars, to be built in the 2020s, would replace the R62 and R62A fleets, which were built in the 1980s and are used on the subway system's numbered routes, in order to expedite CBTC on the Lexington Avenue Line.[129]^: 25 The MTA also announced that 95% of signal timers had been tested, resulting in the discovery of 320 faulty timers, and that 68 locations were improved for increases in speed limits.[130] Byford also promoted some of the other changes made under the Subway Action Plan, including sealing leaks; improving drainage; repairing tracks and signal components; and replacing subway car components.[131] One facet of the Subway Action Plan, a $9.5 million contract for an extensive cleaning of 3,000 subway cars and 100 stations, almost resulted in a strike among unionized subway cleaners. The strike was averted when the MTA ensured that the contract would be for a one-time cleaning and agreed to have two unionized workers at each cleaning site.[132]

In February 2019, Cuomo and de Blasio jointly announced a plan that outlined ten steps to fix MTA operations. Under this plan, similar operations in the MTA's subsidiaries would be combined, a form of congestion pricing would be enacted, a cap on fare increases would be reduced to 2% a year, and the Subway Action Plan would be sped up. To reduce unnecessary costs and delays, a fare evasion prevention strategy would be created, and new project contracts would be awarded as design–build contracts. In addition, board members' terms were tied to those of the official who appointed them, the MTA's capital programs would be reviewed by a committee of independent analysts, and the MTA would undergo an independent financial audit. The MTA, city, and state of New York would work with the state legislature to enact these provisions.[133][134][135] Shortly after, Speaker of the New York City Council Corey Johnson unveiled a competing proposal to cede control of the city's subway and bus systems to the city.[136][137]

The MTA released another progress report in March 2019, stating that the subway's on-time rate had increased to 76%. However, a New York Times analysis of the data found that the gains were not spread equally: the A Division (numbered services and the 42nd Street Shuttle) had an average on-time rate of 79%, compared to the B Division (lettered services) 68% on-time rate. The disparity was attributed to the Automatic Train Supervision system used on much of the A Division; the CBTC signaling system used on the IRT Flushing Line (7 and <7>​ trains); and the opening of the Second Avenue Subway, which alleviated congestion on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4, ​5, ​6, and <6> trains).[138] At the end of the month, the state approved a congestion pricing plan, to go into effect by 2021 at the earliest.[139][140][141]

As part of state legislation passed in April 2019, the MTA was supposed to create a plan to reduce costs by the end of June.[142] Additionally, that May, federal prosecutors started investigating alleged overtime fraud at the MTA, especially at the LIRR, which was thought to contribute to higher spending by the MTA.[143][144] Following this, in July 2019, an MTA reorganization plan was published; the plan called for consolidating the MTA's 40 departments into six groups, as well as eliminating 2,700 jobs.[145][146]

Two incidents affected the subway system in July 2019. The first was the Manhattan blackout of July 13, 2019, which resulted in suspended or limited service on most lines going through Midtown Manhattan for several hours.[147][148] The MTA closed four Manhattan stations,[149] and all of the A Division routes suffered extensive delays.[150] The second incident occurred less than a week later, during the rush hour of July 20, 2019, and in the midst of a citywide heat wave: an ATS system issue caused service on most of the A Division routes to be suspended for more than an hour.[151][152]

In September 2019, the MTA released a draft of their proposed $54 billion 2020–2024 capital plan. The draft calls for adding accessible features to 66 additional subway stations and adding CBTC or other modern signaling systems to parts of six more physical lines.[153] Additionally, the Second Avenue Subway would be completed. Much of the funding would come from the new Manhattan congestion charge.[154] A draft plan for a reorganization of Bronx bus routes was proposed in draft format in June 2019, and a final version was published in October 2019.[155][156] This was followed by the publication of the Queens bus route reorganization draft in December 2019.[157][158] During that year, annual subway ridership figures increased, reversing a ridership decline that had been ongoing since 2015.[159]

On January 15, 2020, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer delivered a letter to Byford, demanding that the MTA develop, and make public, plans for restoring the "abundance" of shuttered entry points along New York City Subway routes currently contributing to severe overcrowding and longer commute times.[160] A week later, on January 23, 2020, Byford officially resigned his position at the NYCTA, citing frequent conflicts with Cuomo.[161][162] The New York Times later wrote that these conflicts had been gradual disagreements, rather than any single event, but that the "Byford-Cuomo estrangement was highly unusual", since New York state governors and MTA chiefs had previously interacted very little prior to the mid-2010s.[163] Byford subsequently left New York to become Commissioner of Transport for London.[164]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, People seen with face masks practicing social distancing.

In March 2020, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to New York state, and thus to the New York City area, resulted in mass closures of gathering spaces such as restaurants and schools.[165] Though the subway, bus, and railroad systems remained open, ridership across all modes of transportation started to decrease, after the MTA recommended that only essential workers use the public transit system.[166][167] On buses, riders were instructed to use the back door, making the bus system effectively fare-free.[168] Following a 50% to 90% drop in ridership on all of the MTA's systems, the agency requested $4 billion in federal funds, since the decreased fare revenue left the already-struggling agency in a financially tenuous position.[169] By March 25, following further ridership decreases, service on buses, subways, and commuter rail was reduced to at most 75% of their regular service levels.[170][171] The subway system's five part-time services, the B, C, W, Z, and 42nd Street Shuttle, were temporarily suspended.[172] Despite this, because of increased headways between trains, smaller ridership decreases were reported in poorer neighborhoods than in wealthier areas, and trains were reportedly crowded, despite social distancing guidelines put into place during the pandemic.[173] After at least 41 MTA workers had died and 6,000 others had gotten sick or self-quarantined by April 8, many workers alleged that the MTA had done too little to protect workers from contracting COVID-19, even as up to 40% of daily trips had to be canceled due to crew shortages.[174][175]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the subway began temporary overnight closures in May 2020, the first such planned closure in the system's history.

By mid-April, ridership on the subway had decreased by 92% due to the pandemic.[175] Bus ridership dropped less, with some routes retaining up to half their normal ridership.[176] To cover a potential revenue shortfall of up to $8.5 billion, the MTA faced having to cut service more permanently, or deferring capital improvements, even though transit experts said that the New York metropolitan area could not function without an effective transit system.[177] On April 20, four City Council members requested that subway service be temporarily suspended due to the spread of COVID-19 in the subway system,[178] but interim New York City Transit president Sarah Feinberg opposed it.[179][180] Other politicians such as de Blasio advocated for shutting down some terminal stations overnight to clean the trains.[181][182] The number of homeless individuals in the subway had also increased, a situation that Cuomo described as "disgusting and disrespectful".[183][184] Starting on May 6, 2020, stations were closed overnight for cleaning, in what became the first planned overnight closure in the subway's history. The overnight closures would be a temporary measure that would be suspended once the pandemic was over, and during the overnight closures, bus service was added.[185] During the closures, trains and stations were cleaned more than usual.[186][187] Although officials stated that only one percent of subway ridership occurred at night, trains continued to run overnight, leading to complaints that essential workers were being unnecessarily inconvenienced. Internal MTA sources stated that it was theoretically possible for the MTA to clean the system without closing it.[188] The NYCTA also announced that families of workers who died of COVID-19 would be eligible for $500,000 in death benefits.[189][190]

Ridership on the subway started to increase at the end of May, as the rate of new COVID-19 cases decreased, though bus ridership had surpassed subway ridership.[191][168] On June 8, regular service resumed with Phase 1 of the city's reopening, though the overnight subway closure remained in place.[192][193] Two weeks later, MTA Chairman Pat Foye reported that roughly 95 percent of mass transit riders were adhering to wearing face masks in accordance with state executive order No. 202.17 from April 15.[194] From April to June, bus ridership was greater than subway ridership for the first time since the MTA started keeping these records in the 1960s; bus speeds increased on average by 19%.[176] In conjunction with this, in June, de Blasio announced that additional busways would be installed citywide.[195]

Continued budgetary issues forced the MTA to suspend all capital projects "indefinitely" due to a deficit that could grow to $10 billion by 2022.[196][197] At a meeting in August 2020, the MTA stated that without $12 billion in federal funding to cover operations in 2020 and 2021, the agency would need to take extreme measures such as eliminating capital projects, laying off thousands of staff, raising fares and tolls, cutting Access-A-Ride service, cutting service on the LIRR and Metro-North by 50%, and cutting service on the subway and bus systems by 40%. The MTA was losing $200 million per week at the time.[198][199] In the wake of such a large deficit, front-door entry on buses was reinstated on August 31.[200] Α report published by the Daily News on September 29 asserted that there was "no correlation" between mass transit and COVID-19 infection rates.[201] However, over 170 transit workers reported being assaulted or harassed for asking passengers to wear face masks,[202] prompting officials to implement a $50 fine for riders who refused to wear a face mask.[203]

Following the election of Joe Biden as U.S. president in 2020, the MTA postponed a set of planned "doomsday" changes, since Biden was seen as more friendly to public transit than his opponent, incumbent president Donald Trump.[204] By December 2020, the MTA had decided not to implement a budget that would have resulted in 40% service cuts and massive staff layoffs, under the assumption that Congress would give $4.5 billion of aid to the MTA.[205] With the inauguration of Biden as U.S. president in 2021, transit officials expressed optimism that the Biden administration would allocate funding to congestion pricing. Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. secretary of transportation, prioritized the congestion pricing plan that February.[206][207][208]

In February 2021, the overnight closures were shortened to between 2 and 4 a.m.[209][210] This came after criticism of the overnight closures, which opponents said disproportionately affected minority residents and low-income workers.[209][211] The same month, the U.S. Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provided the MTA with enough money to resume its capital plan.[212][213] The following month, March 2021, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli published a report showing that the subway was seeing 2 million daily riders on weekdays. The neighborhoods with the greatest increases in ridership, relative to their March 2020 lows, were generally clustered in low-income neighborhoods in the outer boroughs, while the neighborhoods with the smallest increases were largely in wealthy parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.[214] In early May 2021, Cuomo announced that the overnight closures would end on May 17, 2021, with 24-hour service resuming on that date.[215][216]

Many residents expressed reluctance to go back on the system, citing crime rates. In a survey that the MTA conducted in April 2021, 72 percent of 17,000 self-identified frequent riders said they were more concerned with increased crime than with COVID-19 transmission in the subway, while 36 percent of riders who stopped using the system since the pandemic said they were reluctant to return to the system due to their concerns over crime.[217][218] There had been six murders in the system in 2020, more than in the previous three years combined,[219] and the number of rapes, robberies, and burglaries was also recorded as having increased that year.[220] The long-term effects of the pandemic also resulted in over 4,000 workers quitting or retiring from the MTA,[221] including 2,600 from the subway division, from 2019 to 2021.[222] This was in part due to a hiring freeze implemented during the pandemic.[221] In June 2021 alone, about 11,000 scheduled runs of subway trains were canceled due to staff shortages.[223][224] Though the MTA promised to hire more workers,[225] the staff shortage became such a critical issue that, by September 2021, the MTA was asking some of its recently retired workers to temporarily staff subway trains.[226]

The state of emergency ended on June 30, 2021, after previously being renewed 49 times.[227] The bus redesigns, which had been delayed during the pandemic, resumed two months later.[228][229] The subway system continued to experience difficulties. In August 2021, Kathy Hochul replaced Cuomo as governor, promising that she would not "micromanage" MTA leadership.[230] The same month, a power surge disrupted service on several subway routes, particularly the L train and all numbered routes.[231][232]