Subway Delays Could Cost NYC $389 Million A Year, City Says

NEW YORK CITY — New York City's ailing subway system could be hurting its economy to the tune of nearly $400 million per year, on top of giving commuters daily headaches, a new report from city Comptroller Scott Stringer says. Problems on the rails could be costing the city up to $389 million annually from lost wages and productivity, according to an analysis Stringer's office released Sunday.

Just five lines could be responsible for a hit of more than $140 million in the worst-case scenario, the report says. And late trains across the city's 25 subway lines will cost the city $170.2 million annually even in the best-case scenario, Stringer's office found.

The cash comes out of the pockets of New Yorkers who get to work late because of delayed trains and businesses who lose out on their employees' productivity, Stringer's office said.

"What these new numbers show is that the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action; that subway delays take a massive toll on our economy," Stringer, a Democrat seeking re-election this year, said in a statement. "We need to fix our subways both to improve quality of life and our economy. This isn't a choice — it's a must."

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The report follows MTA Chairman Joe Lhota's July proposal for an $836 million "Subway Action Plan" to modernize the ailing system, the condition of which has become a flashpoint for political debate between city and state officials and advocates in recent months.

Stringer called on "every level of government" to "step up" and stanch the economic harm that transit problems cause. But an MTA spokesman pointed to Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration as a responsible party. The agency and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls it, have in recent months aimed to pin responsibility for the subways on the city.

"As the City economy continues to grow and outpace the nation, which is due largely to our unparalleled mass transit network, we appreciate the Comptroller’s support of Chairman Lhota's Subway Action Plan and his call for City Hall to commit to paying its fair share to implement the Plan," the spokesman, Shams Tarek, said in a statement.

De Blasio has noted that the city already put up $2.5 billion to fund the MTA's capital plan in 2015. A spokesman for the mayor said Lhota should look to the nearly half-billion dollars moved from the MTA coffers to the state's general fund by Cuomo, de Blasio's political nemesis.

"There's no question that City riders are hurting, so pretending that the State didn't swipe a half-billion dollars from the MTA is a real slap in the face," Austin Finan, the de Blasio spokesman, told Patch in a statement.

Stringer's analysis used MTA subway delay data and U.S. Census statistics to determine the amount of lost wages and productivity from delayed trains. The report includes estimates based on three increasing degrees of delays.

Based on an average city wage of $34 an hour, the city's economy could take an annual $389 million hit with "major" delays of more than 20 minutes on top of the typical "minor" and "medium" delays, the report says. The impact would be about $243 million, with the longest delays at 10 minutes and about $170 million, with the longest delays at five minutes.

The 5, 7, A, F and 4 trains are the worst offenders, possibly causing a loss of more than $140 million with top delays of 20 minutes, the report says. The 5 train alone, which carries more than 69,000 people a day, could cause a $31.5 million hit in that scenario.

A survey by Stringer's office also found in July that train delays had made 74 percent of straphangers late to a meeting and caused 13 percent of commuters to lose wages.

Lhota's plan to fix the subways came after Cuomo declared a "state of emergency" for the MTA in late June. It would target the most common causes of subway delays, which include signal problems, track issues, track fires, car breakdowns and problems at stations, the MTA says.

Read the full report here:

Lead image via Patch