The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has struggled to deliver the boosts in service that it promised on the R and the N lines as part of a $35 million package in the state budget to pay for running more trains, preliminary agency data shows.
The MTA hoped to improve frequency on both the R and the N from running trains on average every 10 minutes to every 8 minutes during the middle of the day Monday through Friday. So far, the agency has only managed to get it down to roughly every 9 minutes — falling short of its own goal.
“The MTA needs to level with riders about what needs to be done and how long it will take to get the promised improvements in place,” said Danny Pearlstein, the top spokesman for Riders Alliance. “New Yorkers know that every minute counts.”
The data was contained in slides that were supposed to be presented to the MTA’s Board of Directors during its September meeting.
It shows that N trains came on average every 10.3 minutes before the improvements, but the average wait is still 8.8 minutes. The R saw smaller improvements, with average waits dropping to 8.9 minutes from 10 minutes.
These are the first figures that show how much service that officials have actually managed to deliver since frustrated straphangers in southern Brooklyn began regularly taking to social media to complain about the long waits for the N and R that the service boosts were supposed to fix.
Those posts went viral and triggered complaints from politicians who represent Bay Ridge and surrounding neighborhoods served by the two lines, which locals and transit activists have dubbed the ‘Rarely’ and the ‘Never.’
In turn, officials blamed the shortfall on the months-long renovation of the 63rd Street tunnel under the East River for track replacement work, which has led to a series of diversions that have scrambled service between Queens and Midtown.
That project is expected to finish in the ‘first quarter’ of 2024.
The news is not all bad: The same records show the agency has had far more luck improving weekend service on the No. 1, No. 6 and G, J and M lines, which have simpler routings and large stretches of dedicated tracks unlike the N and the R.
The data shows that officials have cut average waits between G trains down from 10.2 minutes to 8.3 minutes and from 10.3 minutes to 8.5 minutes for the J. Waits for No. 1 and No. 6 trains have been slashed from 8.2 to 6.6 minutes.
The MTA data shows that weekend ridership has jumped an extra 8-9 percent on those lines where it has been able to deliver the promised service improvements following the rollout.
The N and R have seen a less impressive 5 percent uptick, albeit with half the improvement.
The first two phases also trimmed waits for trains running on the C line from 10.5 minutes to 9 minutes, according to the slides.
Officials are set to roll out the next round of service improvements funded by the $35 million in this year’s state budget in December.
The fourth, and final, portion of the improvements is slated to be introduced in this coming July — boosting weekday service for the B, D, J and M; and weekend service on the No. 3 and No. 5 lines.