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NYC just saw its worst summer for subway service in 7 years, MTA data shows
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Sep 2, 2025
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By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Sep 2, 2025
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New York City subway service went down the tubes this summer, a problem largely sparked by long-standing infrastructure problems, according to new stats released by the MTA last week.
The agency reported 138 major incidents — or calamities that delay 50 or more trains — in June and July, the highest for those two months since 2018, when the city’s transit system was under a state of emergency declared by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo due to chronically unreliable service caused by failing equipment.
More subway train delays attributed to “infrastructure and equipment” problems, including those tied to aging electrical and signal systems, happened in July than in any month since the MTA began tracking the data point in 2020.
The delays come as the MTA struggles to upgrade some of its oldest equipment. The agency’s ongoing projects to upgrade subway signals — which transit officials bill as a silver bullet to making service more reliable — are all far behind schedule, ranging from nine months to three years past their original deadlines. The MTA’s new five-year construction plan also faced setbacks earlier this year after its approval was delayed five months while state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul negotiated its funding.
Bill Amarosa, vice president of subways at NYC Transit, said the MTA changed the way it tracks major incidents in 2023, which contributed to the spike in the June and July data.
"It's the same number of delays, but you're seeing more of it tied to signal incidents, track incidents, car incidents, for example," he said. "When you put more delays on that individual incident, you're more likely to go over the 50-delay threshold and have it classified as a major incident."
MTA spokesperson Joana Flores said the agency’s on-time performance metric remains relatively high. The data shows roughly 1 in 5 weekday subway trains are delayed, about the same as last summer.
“New York City Transit is increasing service and improving reliability, and the work being done across the system today — along with the historic state of good repair investments made in the upcoming Capital Plan to improve signals, tracks and equipment — will mean less disruptions for riders in the long run,” Flores wrote in a statement.
This summer’s delay data was no surprise to regular riders, whose commutes were beset by steady disruptions, including repeated power outages in July at the West Fourth Street subway station and problems caused by a heavy storm that flooded several stations.
“I take the subway every morning to work,” said Downtown Brooklyn resident Nicole Strzepek, 24. “I take the F line and I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been late to work because of it.”
Strzepek said she was the one of thousands of morning commuters trapped at West Fourth Street during July’s power outages. And it was just her luck: the F train saw the second most delays due to infrastructure issues in June and July, according to the MTA’s new data.
The E, N, 1 and 7 trains also made their way into the top five most-delayed train lines due to infrastructure issues this summer.
“In some respects, we’ve been living on borrowed time. The system nearly fell apart 50 years ago and there were major upgrades made to the tracks and trains,” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for Riders Alliance, a transportation advocacy group. “But now, the signals, the electrical systems, the structures, the tunnels all need that level of TLC that they haven’t got in generations. Those chickens are roosting right now. The investments are being made, but unfortunately it’s not as simple as flipping a switch.”
The MTA also collects data on how much longer a rider has to wait on a train or at the station compared to the scheduled wait time. Both times bumped up this summer, reaching a near five-year high.
At the start of the year, when MTA officials pitched their construction plan to state lawmakers during budget negotiations, the agency’s leaders warned service could fall through the floor if repairs and upgrades weren’t funded quickly. Much of the subway system is more than a century old.
A Gothamist investigation published earlier this year highlighted the dire state of the subway’s underlying infrastructure, including mid-20th century electrical equipment that regularly explodes and subway repair shops that are physically falling apart.
Tagged
new york city
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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