The W is the “worst,” and the N and R live up to their reputation as “never” and “rarely” in a new survey of subway on-time performance.
Straphangers are waiting longer for trains to arrive in stations on more subway lines, according to Transit Authority statistics.
In fact, 14 train lines scored lower on rider wait-time than during the same time period last year.
Only four lines – the 1/9, the 3, the F and the G – improved on-time performance in the most recent quarter compared with the same quarter last year, the TA said.
And those poor results came before Sept. 11’s terror attacks wreaked havoc on subway service.
TA spokesman Al O’Leary chalked up the decreased scores to big changes in subway lines that took effect last July – and the confusion that followed.
Several lines were reconfigured and created to accommodate maintenance work being done on the Manhattan Bridge.
“It generally slows down the railroad until people get accustomed,” O’Leary said. “The loading [of subway cars was] slower because people are hesitant getting on a newly named train.”
But the Straphangers Campaign, a riders advocacy group, was skeptical.
“I don’t think they can just say the bridge did it,” said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.
“They’re admitting that there’s a problem. It’s not just up to the riders to adjust,” Russianoff said. “People who take these lines are getting worse service … transit officials have to do a better job of providing service.”
“And the W, the new line, is the least regular in the whole system. That’s not a good debut. It’s W for ‘worst,'” Russianoff said.
The W, introduced in July as part of the Manhattan Bridge changes, had just 76.4 percent of its riders step on a train within two minutes of its scheduled arrival in stations.
The TA rates a train’s performance as acceptable if riders wait no longer than two minutes after the scheduled arrival time in a station during peak periods, and no longer than four minutes during off-peak times.
The N and R lines experienced the worst drops in on-time service over the year.
The R was within two minutes of on-time arrival in a station just 82.6 percent of the time, a drop of 6.6 percentage points from last year.
And the N was on time 78.9 percent of the time, a plunge of 8.6 percentage points.
Both the 2 and 5 trains were on time less than 80 percent.
The strongest on-time results were posted by the 1 and the now-defunct 9 train, and the combined B, D and S service on Sixth Avenue, which all posted a 91.5 percent on-time rate.
In contrast to the subways, TA bus service improved in each of the five boroughs in wait times experienced by people at bus stops.
SUBWAY LINES ON-TIME RATE
1st 1/9 91.5
Sixth Avenue (combined B, D and S) 91.5
3rd L 89.6
4th 7 89.3
5th 6 89.0
6th J/Z 88.8
7th F 88.5
8th C 87.3
9th 3 86.7
10th G 86.3
11th 4 85.6
12th E 85.2
13th M 84.0
14th Q 82.6
R 82.6
16th A 80.7
17th N 78.9
2 78.9
19th 5 78.3
20th W 76.4