Op-ed | Why more of your subway trains are operating on time

My priorities for subway service as NYC Transit President are the same as other New Yorkers’ – I want it to be safe, fast, and efficient. The greatest city in the world demands and deserves the best. This year, I’m proud to say we’re delivering the best subway service in over a decade.

On-time performance (OTP) has improved every month this year compared to 2024, and April was our best month in recent history, with 85% of weekday trains arriving on time. Delays are down, and performance, ridership, and customer satisfaction are all on the rise. There’s always room for improvement, but this is all worth celebrating.

Don’t forget, our system is 120 years old. Many of the components the subway relies on — from power to signals to rail cars – have been in use for decades. Some dates as far back as the FDR administration! So, it takes constant maintenance to keep service running smoothly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There’s a reason why so few of our global peers are open all night, all year.

Two lines stand out this year for gains, the 6 and the J. Under the leadership of Line Managers Dawn Sobers and Mahamuda Ferdous, performance on the 6 is up over 10% versus last year, while the J and Z trains have a combined OTP of over 90% — the best we’ve ever seen.

How did we do it? By focusing on data and maintenance to run better service.

On the 6, we implemented innovative new tactics to improve schedules and better dispatch trains. On the J, the Subways team wrote a new service plan that allows us to perform essential inspection and maintenance work more efficiently to reduce delays.

The goal is to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. Maintenance of Way crews are replacing track faster than ever before. Specific trouble spots in the system like error-prone signals receive extra rounds of inspections to keep them in good working order.

I’m incredibly proud of the team that’s delivering historically strong subway service. This year, we’ve welcomed new leadership in Senior Vice President Bill Amarosa Jr. and Chief Officer Tom Calandrella at the Operations Control Center. Like me, both come from multi-generational transit families. They’re lifelong New Yorkers, and they’re getting big things done for our riders.

We’re hardly resting on success. With critical investments in the new 2025-2029 Capital Plan – think new subway cars and lots of State of Good Repair work — I’m pushing the team to raise the bar and drive performance even higher in the years to come.

Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York City Transit president.