New York’s most delayed subway lines of 2023 can be revealed following a Post analysis of MTA data.
Service disruptions are most common on the F line which runs between Coney Island in Brooklyn and 179th street in Queens, with only 71% of trains running on time.
The line is closely followed by the A and the C lines, which run from Rockaway in Queens to Inwood in Manhattan, which were on time only 72% of the time, according to the data.
The N train running between Astoria in Queens and Coney Island in Brooklyn came in third most delayed, with only 73% of trains running to schedule.
On the other end of the scale, the most on-time trains can be found on the hipster’s favorite, the L train from 14th Street in Manhattan and Canarsie in Brooklyn with a whopping 93% of trains running to schedule.
Notably the tunnels the L takes under the East River were upgraded in a huge project finished in 2020, which helped improve service on the line.
The L was closely followed by the 7 line, running between Flushing in Queens and Times Square in Manhattan, which clocked up 91% of trains running on time.
Maintenance worker, Jamilla, 54, lives in Brooklyn, and said delays are so frequent and frustrating they often cause people to “get crazy.”
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“It’s been the A and the J for me. They’re the worst,” she said.
“It’s a 15-minute wait, consistently. It was better before. It’s getting longer now. The worst is in the morning. It can get longer and people get crazy, start pushin’ and nonsense.”
An MTA spokesperson gave reasons for the delays, saying the four lines most frequently delayed are mostly impacted by construction work, suspended services caused by vandalism, and the complications of merging different branches of the lines.
“The F is one of the longest lines and is affected by construction along much of its route, plus it is also affected by construction on other lines that are then rerouted onto the F line,” the spokesperson told The Post.
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Malcolm, a 71-year-old retired truck driver from Brooklyn who frequently travels on the F train, said the issues have become so commonplace he can now accurately predict and work around them.
“My daughter lives on Kings Highway and I don’t visit them at certain times and on certain days because the F has a definite rhythm. Weekdays, in the morning, the trains slow down, like they’re running less trains before and after the rush,” he told The Post.
“If it’s a weekday, like today, I don’t leave to go see my baby, my granddaughter, until afternoon. I just don’t feel okay standing on the platform for like 15 or 20 minutes.
“I’m an old man and I don’t have the strongest arms anymore or the quickest reflexes anymore so I can’t just stand there like a target for 20 minutes. Weekends is better. The trains come closer together and you can kind of time it.”
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The A train is often delayed because it runs on “one of the longest lines and is complicated because of the merging of branches in Queens”, according to the MTA spokesperson.
“We have an ongoing initiative to review A line performance in detail and already have initiatives underway to address terminal operations in Upper Manhattan and scheduling of maintenance work on the outdoor sections in Queens, among other initiatives,” the spokesperson said.
Since the C is the localized version of the A line and follows its entire route, its performance is closely tied to that of the A.
Bronx resident, Raymond, said the “D and the C” lines were the worst to travel in his experience.
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“Oh man, you gotta wait like a half an hour for a train,” he told The Post at the Jay St Metrotech station in Brooklyn.
“Especially around noon! Even worse on school days.”
The MTA spokesperson said the N, which shares its timetable with the W, has been “affected by numerous incidents in the past few months”.
“The result was likely affected by the vandalism spree that forced suspension of W service while nearly 100 car windows were repaired,” the agency spokesperson added.
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Municipal employee, Andrew, 51, said some lines are well known among commuters to be less reliable than others.
“Worst is getting to the N platform as a train pulls out. Next one could be 5 min, could be 20 min and it doesn’t matter what the schedule says. Everybody knows that,” the Queens resident told The Post.
Another contributing factor in the performance discrepancies across the lines is that the MTA is installing new computerized signals along the A/C and the F lines, which the 7 and the L already have, according to the agency.
Salesman Edward Kim, 32, who lives in Corona, said “scheduled maintenance” is the main problem which affects his commute.
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“There are whole weekends where there’s no train service and it’s fine if you’ve got a lot of options but we don’t,” he explained.
“There are weekends they say between Queens and Manhattan there’s no service.
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“They announce it for like weeks ahead of time. It’s not a surprise. But I don’t see a lot of other lines getting no service between this Borough that you’re going to all the time and where you live, fairly regularly.”
But it’s not just the inconvenience of service delays that are concerning commuters – the safety issues that stem from them are also an issue.
Bernie, 19, a student from Manhattan, told The Post the gaps in between services make it more dangerous, especially for people traveling alone.
“The N’s fine going to Queens but it’s super sketch coming the other way,” she claimed.
“I just wish they could make it like the same amount of time between trains throughout the day because when you need them to be the closest together, like early in the morning or late at night, that’s when the trains are the furthest apart and it is not good.
“Sometimes I just leave the platform and come back when I can hear the train.”
Alex, a 22-year-old student who lives in Woodside houses, echoed that sentiment.
“When there are people around like the cops , it’s no big deal,” she said.
“But you come back here at like 10 at night, this platform is empty.
“You would not want to stand here for very long. Cops don’t even want to stand down here at night.”
