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Shabby subways make a hard life worse for NYC's super commuters

Stephen Nessen

and

Ramsey Khalifeh

Published Jan 17, 2025

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People on a subway train.

Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Stephen Nessen

and

Ramsey Khalifeh

Published Jan 17, 2025

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This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.

Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.

For the last three months, we’ve spoken to nearly 100 subway riders as part of our reporting on the MTA’s $65 billion plan to fix New York City’s aging public transit.

Dozens and dozens of commuters had familiar complaints: the overcrowding, the inaudible announcements over broken loudspeakers and the infuriating delays.

But a surprising number of riders also had shockingly long daily commutes. Some travel from Far Rockaway, Queens to the South Bronx, or from the South Bronx to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. One woman’s daily commute from Staten Island to Eastern Queens takes upwards of three hours.

They’re New York City’s super commuters, who spend hours on trains without ever leaving the five boroughs.

“I was born and raised in the Bronx. The only reason I moved to Far Rockaway, the rent is way cheaper,” said Kim Jaime, explaining her daily journey via the A line and the 2 line to the South Bronx, where she works as a home health aide. “On the weekends, I hate [the train]. The commute is so unfair to us. They act like people don't work the weekends."

The term “super commuters” typically lands in the headlines when a new survey or study is released on the growing trend of people traveling extraordinary distances to get to work. Stanford University released a study last year analyzing GPS data from before and after the pandemic that found super commuting to the city grew by 89%. The study defined super commutes as trips more than 40 miles.

Those journeys, in other words, involve people coming from outside the city from places like Delaware, Philadelphia, or, in the case of one hairstylist, Charlotte, North Carolina (though she crashes in a friend’s apartment closer to work).

The commuters within the five boroughs who regularly spend more than 90 minutes on subways get less attention. But given the shoddy state of the system, their commutes can be even more brutal.

Take art teacher Andre Batista, 29, who lives in the South Bronx and wakes up at 4 a.m. to make it to his job in Bay Ridge.

“I think like two weeks ago the R was so delayed I showed up like an hour late to work and I had to get coverage for my students,” he said. “So, that really screwed me up.”

The super commuters shared a deep distrust of the MTA. They didn’t expect the agency to be able to improve service, even though that’s the goal of the mammoth capital plan being debated in Albany.

Many also had personal stories highlighting the city’s affordability crisis. They simply couldn’t afford to live closer to work.

So, they’re stuck on journeys that leave them especially vulnerable to the city’s fragile system. For most riders, a delay means maybe being 20 minutes late to work. But delays compound for New York City’s super commuters: A 90-minute commute across several train lines can easily become a three-hour odyssey.

Jaime said that regularly happens to her. And it will get worse starting Friday when the MTA closes a stretch of the A line in Rockaway for four months of repairs.

Joel Pitra, a photographer from Woodside, Queens, said the inconsistent service makes it hard for him to plan his day. He said his job takes him to all corners of the city.

“I spend a lot of time on trains and it's one of my biggest headaches, to be honest,” he said. ”I'm not optimistic because a decadeslong experience of me being in the city has led me to be not optimistic. If I was going to see changes in the right direction, I would have seen them by now.”

Have a question about subway cars (or literally anything else NYC-transit related)? Use this form to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter!

But note that Curious Commuter questions are exclusive for On The Way newsletter subscribers. Sign up for free here.

Question from Kevin in Manhattan

What if you live and drive within the congestion zone, but occasionally drive outside the city and then return home?

Answer

If you live and park your car in Manhattan south of 60th Street, you’ll have to pay the MTA’s congestion pricing toll every day you exit and return to the zone. The MTA has roughly 1,400 cameras to track when drivers enter or exit the tolling area. Some drivers who live inside the congestion zone do qualify for some discounts, though. If you live below 60th Street and make less than $60,000 a year, you can get the cost of your tolls back in the form of a state tax rebate.

The latest NYC area transit headlines

Listen here:

Congestion pricing seems to be working: The MTA counted some 43,000 fewer drivers than average entering Manhattan below 60th Street each weekday last week. Read more.
This week, Gothamist published the first stories in a series detailing the state of New York City’s mass transit system. Our reporting found the subways aren’t just on the brink of collapse — the breakdown has already begun. Read more.
Have you ever been on a Brooklyn-bound subway that abruptly stops for a few seconds — or minutes — right before the DeKalb Avenue stop? You can thank the Depression-era technology the MTA is still using to direct train traffic. Read more.
The subway system’s electrical equipment is so old it frequently explodes. Read more.
Police said they’re looking for a man accused of setting multiple fires across the city last week, including two inside subway stations. Read more.
After conducting more than 70 outreach events last year, the MTA will hold a final virtual town hall next week to discuss the Queens bus network redesign. Read more.
Just before President Joe Biden leaves office, the federal government issued the Port Authority a major loan allowing work to proceed on the planned replacement of the decrepit Midtown Bus Terminal. Read more.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in her State of the State address this week that she wants a cop on every overnight subway train for the next six months. Read more.
A train service in the Rockaways will be shut down for four months starting on Friday while crews address lingering damage from Superstorm Sandy. (Tickets on the Long Island Rail Road’s Far Rockaway line have been reduced to $2.75 for the duration of the shutdown.) Read more.
Several New York Republicans who met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend said they’re confident they’ll be able to revoke congestion pricing, though they were short on details as to how they’d do it. Read more.

Tagged

new york city

transportation

On The Way

Stephen Nessen

Twitter

Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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]

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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