Why The NYC Subway Is Such A Mess

Why is public transit always put in the lens of profitability? We don't do that for cars and roads. Just invest more in public transit. It's that simple.

Not once did they address the quality of the experience for MTA riders. The conditions of the stations and the cars themselves, along with the constant train traffic is a huge issue that cannot be ignored.

One thing that everyone needs to agree upon: a singular fare payment card system similar to Tokyo's Suica or Pasmo cards that covers MTA subways, Metro North, Long Island Railroad, PATH and NJ Transit. That way, one payment system means seamless travel all over the New York metro region.

The fancy turnstyle replacement ignores several obvious problems. For example the emergency exits at some stations in Harlem next to the turnstyles are broken and let people right in. About half of the “fare evaders” are from buses according to the pie chart. No one is evading fares on the buses. The OMNY payment terminals are often offline and not working, so the bus driver lets people in when asked what riders should do. Fix the terminals, fix the emergency exists, actually put people in the stations and talk to the bus drivers. These executives have no idea what is going on at the ground and how easy it is to solve these issues if they actually observed what the riders experience. What do they have instead? Office rooms within subways that blow hot AC air towards the riders’ mezzanine areas. Tracks strewn with trash. Elevators with nauseating amounts of deodorizers. The problems they face are not hard. They’re not just doing the work.

I work in the railroad industry. All ridership went down after 2019 due to Covid, the video didn't explain that at all. It's picking up steadily and we see ridership not only returning back to pre-pandemic levels but in all probability be even higher. That's why most organizations have ordered more cars to future proof the demand we know is coming. And it's not only extra cars, but also running trains closer using sophisticated Automatic Train Control which reduces the intervals run for each train.

Notice the biggest fare evasion is through emergency doors. Their fancy ticket gates won't solve that. People now hold them open asking for spare change, or the closers are repeatedly broken right after a new one finally gets installed. Bring back the annoying alarms, at the very least.  And where are the $10B a year NYPD?

I feel like the NYC subway is a different planet by itself lol. I grew tough skin riding the subway. Constant homeless people, people who are rude as hell, constant entertainers (some of them are pretty cool), and constant fights. Best thing you can do in NYC is keep it pushing and ignore everything around you.

I love how they only compared NYC metro to Europe, with only a single reference to Asia (Singapore). Y'all don't understand how good public transportation can be. Asia is on a whole different planet. Even in Bangkok, where I live, the subway and skytrains are lightyears ahead of anything the US has to offer. Let alone China, Korea, and Japan.

Ridership is down a third from pre-pandemic levels, and so is the number of office workers. There you have it.

I remember in the 1990s under covers would hide in closets then give you a ticket or arrest for fate evasion. Now in 2023 they say that they can’t do anything. I’m confused

0:10 I always hear the MTA complain that ridership is down, but what they fail to mention is that when ridership was up, THEY COULDN’T SUPPORT THAT MUCH TRAFFIC!!!!!! Trains were always way over packed. They were never on time. They were constantly delayed for long periods of time en route. Also, if the people who run the MTA didn’t all pay themselves tens of millions of dollars, there would be lots of money to go around. As always, greed is the problem. Finally, no residents should have to pay fare at all. We already pay for the MTA with taxes. Making us pay fare is literally forcing us to pay twice.

They should close the subway for 2 or 4h a night so they can clean and repair. A cleaner, more maintained subway would attract more customers during the day

It seems to me that they are just blaming “fare evasion “ on why the train sucks. Absolutely… not. While fair evasion is a huge problem. It’s due to mismanagement from the MTA from the START. MTA has been trying to play catch up for 50 years. They brought up the 2av extension, but they fail to mention when that idea was brought up … which was 50 plus years ago. Take Hudson yards for example, on how it was proposed in early 2000’s and didn’t finish till recently. How about the disgusting OVERTIME they pay their workers? Did you know 300 LIRR workers claimed 100,000 extra FOR EACH WORKER ? It seems to me the MTA just throws cash ANYWHERE. The MTA HAS failed to update its infrastructure for the last 116 years of its existence. This isn’t solely fare evasion and lack of funds for the MTA, it’s absolute mis management. Hire more people to actually run the place, stop having exams for simple mundane things, and actually get a good work force that you wouldn’t have to have ridiculous overtime. Actually manage your money without having to burden the public.

I’m Manhattan born from the 1970s. Lived in S. Korea 2010-2012. Europe 2012-2016. Just moved to Tokyo Aug 2023. Those mentioned places do trains really well, especially Korea and Japan. It’s possible. But the US is a sick and wild society. Our culture does not allow for anything to function as a civil society.

Kinda weird to just accept it cost 5 times more than anywhere else in the world.

It’s not just that people are afraid of crime, it’s the entire atmosphere on the subway now. Somewhere in the last few years people have become afraid to call out bad behavior, which makes riding the subway an extremely unpleasant experience.

Wish this went more in detail about how expensive it is to run the MTA and why other countries and networks can offer better station, rail, and riding conditions at a fraction of the cost. Why shouldn't people expect better conditions when they've seen what a good system looks like elsewhere? Especially if those systems cost and run at a lower price.

It’s fine to look at fare evasion and lack of funding as part of the issue, but they should also examine why the operating budget is $19.3 billion. Can’t just look at one side of the equation.

As a transit worker, I will give you the most basic answer to our problems. Everyone wants our service, no one wants to be the one footing the bill. They want us to run every subway line so there is a train at least every six minutes all day. They want new equipment, They want us to build expansions every which way to sunday... But when it comes time to pay for these things, everyone tries to pass the buck. We're like "The Little Red Hen". For example: Everyone from areas around the city wants exemptions from the congestion charge. off the top of my head you have Rockland County, Yonkers, all of New Jersey... Come on! At what point do people need to get it that this operation costs money and if we don't get what we need, we can't run.

I think it'd important to note that one of the biggest causes of the NYC's subway's expectation to cover a large portion of its own costs in the first place. Transportation infrastructure like highways and roads often only cover a tiny fraction of their cost from tolls with tax dollars making up the vast majority of the funding. The reality is that providing a comprehensive transportation system that doesn't require constant government funding is practically impossible. But that's ok because of the indirect economic benefits these systems provide.