stand clear of the closing doors

Keep Blaming the Subway for Why You’re Late to Work

Photo: Mario Tama/2005 Getty Images

One of the great privileges of subway-riding is squeezing your way onto the train so you can be sandwiched between germ-drenched train doors and sweaty humans while the loudspeaker blares “we have been delayed because of train traffic ahead.” It turns out that this might be happening a lot more frequently, given new MTA data that shows nearly a quarter of all trains arrive at least five minutes late to their end-of-the-line destination, a 6 percent increase in you being tardy from last year. Part of this is owed to increased track maintenance, but we also have ourselves to blame: Ridership has spiked to nearly 6 million, and it just takes that much longer for us to get on and off the train. 

MTA Data Shows Subway Delays Are Up