Oct. 3, 2017 By Nathaly Pesantez
The 7 train is one of four trains deemed the “worst offenders” for subway delays, with delays on this line costing the city between $13.7 million and $29 million annually, according to a recent report from the NYC Comptroller.
The Oct. 1 report breaks down subway lines based on weekday ridership, train schedules, and wait assessments, coming up with a cost analysis based on “best-case”, “mid-range”, and “worst-case” delay scenarios.
The annual economic cost of the 7 train in terms of “best-case” major delays is $13,685,550, based on the more than 117,000 weekday 7 line riders. “Mid-range” major delays on this line result in an annual cost of $18,793,342. The “worst-case” delays on the 7 line cost the city’s economy $29,009,935.
Estimated annual economic cost for first five subway lines
The analysis uses the midpoint of the range of wait time delays for minor and medium delays and three distinct scenarios for major delays, laying out estimates measured for trains 100 percent, 200 percent, and 400 percent behind schedule. An assumed average hourly salary of $34 per person is also used for calculations.
Trains delayed by 25 percent to 50 percent over their scheduled time are considered “minor”. “Medium” delays range from 50 percent to 100 percent over scheduled time, and “major” delays are those that run 100 percent over scheduled time.
The 7 train is one of five subway lines that most negatively impact economic activity, according to the report. The 5, 7, A, F, and 4 train lines combined cost the city $140 million annually assuming worst-case delays.
Overall, it is estimated that the economic cost of subway delays are up to $389 million annually.
“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,” said Comptroller Scott M. Stringer.
The report comes after a survey released in July conducted by the Comptroller’s office on the toll subway delays have on people, including arriving to work late, having to walk to work, and even getting fired from a job.
See the full report here .
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15 Comments
I’ve taken the 7 train for years. After the switching upgrade, it went from one of the most reliable trains to one of the worst. They constantly change from local to express and skip stops. It is delayed every morning. What used to be a 25 min ride has now turned into 40 min. They constantly blame it on switching problems. That must be a joke. They just spent millions of dollars upgrading it and then blame all the issues on their upgraded system. When the city said all time clocks were up and running, that was a lie too. The 7 got the clocks but they didn’t work for weeks after they installed them. That was after they said all were up and running. The 7 is a joke. It’s got the smallest train cars in the system yet the most riders. Just because it has the most minority riders of any line, the MTA chooses to do nothing about it. The MTA should be fired and the city should bring in a company that knows what they are doing. The MTA is full of waste and are blood suckers of NYC’s economy. How can it take three months to fix a set of stairs when theres only one other set of stairs to exit the station on the most crowded line. The MTA sucks and something needs to be done about it.
Yawn* you people act like the 7 is the only train in Queens that suffers with issues. Try Traveling From jamaica with the E/F or J or the A from Rockaways/Ozonepark Richmond Hill going through east ny into city and get back to me and tell me how “peaceful” and non”traumatic” those trips are compared to the 7.
I take all those trains and the 7 is by far the worst of all of those. I used to love the 7 but ever since the upgrades it has become the crappiest train I’ve ever taken. It’s riddled with issues.
We who ride it know that! The question is who voted the 7 the best line in the system the last 3 years????
We are also the last on the list to get the time clocks to let us know when the next 7 is arriving!
It’s a joke but not to those of us that use it!!!!!
#7 is good. I take it to the to the city all the time. There a train every 5 mins. It’s not to crowded. It could be a little cleaner. They should outlaw eating on the train It would help with litter and it wouldn’t smell. Plus it has to be a health hazard to eat on the train , a lot of germs.
I love the 7 train. Best train in town. If you think it’s bad, travel the others. You’ll see bad. Go #7. Yeaaaaaah
Abolish 7 express between 61st and Queensboro. All trains local!. I’m tired of waiting 8+ minutes for a local train during rush hour (and that’s when there are no delays), watching 4 or 5 outbound trains go by. Then the train is so full you can’t get on. All local, therefore twice as many trains. Do it now!
If the ta can’t run express svc w/o having to wait for supervision at willets pt. and if they can’t use the middle track from main st. to willets pt. in the morning like they do in the evening rush hour then they should abandon the pretense of running express trains and stick with all trains local all the time one after another.
What is the use of running express trains when you see all those wretched souls piling on all the local stops as the express train zooms by and not a local train to be seen until you approach queensboro plaza stop?
And what about the no communication at the queensboro plaza station about making connection with q and n trains?
It’s like the conductor having a devilish laugh closing doors just as the other train is opening doors.
Let’s put honest observers with authority to make this connections happen so the commuters can go where they are going w/o any man-made delays.
Also,
What are these announcements making people of the city criminals by warning about guarding against pickpockets.
Let the police do it’s work.
And telling people how to get out of doors
To let people on or off. If ta puts some extra trains or revise the timing in light of increased traffic then ta will not bore the passengers with this stupid announcements.
One of the main problems is that the MTA does not run enough trains during rush hour. It gets even worse if you are on a local stop and everyone is cramming which makes it worse. A major improvement would be to run more local trains and less express trains and stagger them on a consistent basis. Whining about new developments isn’t going to do squat if the MTA only runs 1 train every 20 minutes during rush hour. People who complain about gentrification I guess would rather have more homeless hotel shelters in their neighborhoods.
The 7 train should begin running an express from 6am. Most riders are getting off at Grand Central or 42 Times Sq. Save us some time!
Actually for the amount of people, 20-30% more than the others listed, the cost is about the same as others. Ha ha…
7 train is still the best!! We love you!! Top ranked 2016 by straphangers.org in 2016, once again
Read it and weep crybabies, if you dont like it walk and make more room for me….
http://www.straphangers.org/reports/StateoftheSubways2016.pdf
FREDDY dummy FREDDY.
FREDDY MERCURY!
Get it right. Comparing the greatest singer in the history of rock to a broken subway line isn’t a good analogy.
El loco has to take the train. Sooooooo funny. I have a Harley and 2 suv’s and my work van. Try working el , you might eventually have money for a car. By the time your 90 , maybe ! hee hee hee. Don’t forget to put money on your metro card ,enjoy the smell
Finally, people are starting to realize this train is a disaster.
A Van Bramer is opening the door for more LIC and Sunnyside development. Others even want to build up Sunnyside rail yard???!!! These developers and politicians are the true disaster.