Subway on-time performance in New York City has remained above pre-pandemic levels, but the causes of delays have shifted as more riders return to the system, according to a report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is being urged to focus its efforts on addressing the main sources of delays, such as planned maintenance work, police and medical incidents, and issues with signals and subway equipment.
“As the MTA prioritizes work in its capital program and brings back riders, it’s important to understand where and how subway service is being disrupted and delayed,” DiNapoli said. “Targeting problem areas like signals and issues with subway cars that add to delays can improve straphangers experience and boost ridership. Working with the Police Department, Fire Department, and Homeless Services can also help reduce incidents that cause delays. Above all, the MTA should be clear and open about the work it is prioritizing to reduce delays and how those actions will benefit the public.”
The MTA defines a train as on time if it reaches its final stop within five minutes of schedule without skipping stops. During the pandemic in 2021, when ridership was low and overnight service reduced, on-time performance (OTP) reached 85%. As both ridership and overnight service returned, delays increased.
In 2024, out of 2.7 million trains operated by the MTA, 486,614 experienced delays—resulting in an OTP of 82.2%, slightly higher than the 81.1% recorded in 2019 before the pandemic. So far in 2025, there has been further improvement: through June, as ridership climbed back to 75% of pre-pandemic levels, there were 214,714 delays—a decrease of 13% compared to the same period last year.
The report emphasizes that understanding delay causes is essential for improving service. While some factors are outside of MTA control—such as police or medical emergencies—others related to infrastructure can be addressed through targeted investments similar to those made under previous initiatives like the Subway Action Plan.
DiNapoli’s report calls for greater transparency from the MTA regarding how spending decisions are expected to reduce specific types of delays. It also recommends that methodological changes in delay classification be clearly explained to allow for accurate comparisons over time. The MTA revised its classification system for tracking delays in 2024; this led to more major incidents—defined as events causing at least 50 train delays—being counted.
The Subway Action Plan previously helped lower major incidents from an average of 900 per year between 2015-2018 down to 586 in 2019. In 2020, major incidents dropped by nearly half due partly to reduced service during overnight cleaning operations amid plummeting ridership caused by COVID-19 restrictions. As riders returned in subsequent years so did major incidents: they rose by two-thirds to reach 534 in 2023 but remained below pre-pandemic numbers. Through June this year there have been 385 major incidents—a slight increase over last year’s pace.
Problems with subway cars have become a rapidly growing cause of these major incidents according to DiNapoli’s findings—a trend he says underscores the need for upgrades across rolling stock.
Performance varies significantly among subway lines tracked by the MTA: four lines exceeded an OTP rate of 87% last year—with the L train leading at nearly 92%, aided by newer cars and advanced signaling technology called Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC). In contrast, B train lagged behind at just over 64%.
Delay causes differ widely between lines as well; for example almost one-third of F train’s nearly 38,000 delays last year stemmed from planned track maintenance associated with capital projects overseen by MTA itself. On N train lines about one-third of roughly 37,000 delays were tied directly to infrastructure or equipment failures—including more than four thousand attributed specifically to signal problems.
Public misconduct or crime resulting in police responses accounted for more than seventy-one thousand delays last year citywide—representing about eleven percent of all disruptions on certain lines such as line six which had more total delays than any other route (38,898). Analysis showed over a thousand complaints related to these types of incidents filed via NYC’s 311 system on several busy routes including lines two R F E A and six during that period.
DiNapoli’s office continues monitoring trends impacting transit reliability through ongoing reports including annual updates on MTA debt profiles alongside digital tools tracking commuter complaints submitted via NYC311.
