NYCT Subway Performance

Joseph Leader, Senior VP, SubwaysPeter Cafiero, Chief, Operations Planning

May 2015

Today, Subway performance is primarily challenged by growing ridership, ongoing maintenance needs & unplanned events

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• Ridership is growing in peak and off-peak periods

• Critical maintenance needs are growing and work often performed under train traffic

• Unplanned events do occur (e.g., power outages, water main breaks, signal trouble) and also have a significant impact on service

2014 – Delays by Cause*

Planned Work26%

Unplanned Work22%

Crowding, Police,

Sick Customer,

etc.40%

Other12%

*Delays February 2014-January 2015

Incidents versus Delays: Impact of a given incident can vary widely by time, line and location

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168th St, 9:09 PM, 3/23/15, 22 minute duration

72nd St, 4:35 PM, 11/4/14, 10 minute duration

Example: Sick Customer Incident Delayed Trains(Number of trains rerouted or made 5 minutes late to the terminal by the incident)

A similar incident has a smaller impact on a less busy line...

14 Trains Delayed

50th St, 6:08 PM, 7/29/14, 10 minute duration

72 Trains Delayed

…and even less impact during the off peak.

3 Trains Delayed

Incidents vary in frequency and magnitude of impact

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2014 Weekday Incidents, Major Categories

Incident Description No. of Incidents

No. of Delays(avg. per Incident)

Unplanned WorkWater Condition & Water Main Break 36 59 Track Conditions 548 33 Fire/Smoke Conditions 419 22 Signal Conditions 2,370 17 Door Closing Trouble (often crowding-related) 2,324 5

Planned Work 11,334 10

Crowding, Police, Sick Customers, etc 29,734 6

Ridership is growing at all hours of the day and has exceeded 2008 levels in all hours

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100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

12 AM- 1 AM

1 AM -2 AM

2 AM -3 AM

3 AM -4 AM

4 AM -5 AM

5 AM -6 AM

6 AM -7 AM

7 AM -8 AM

8 AM -9 AM

9 AM -10 AM

10 AM-11 AM

11 AM-12 PM

12 PM- 1 PM

1 PM -2 PM

2 PM -3 PM

3 PM -4 PM

4 PM -5 PM

5 PM -6 PM

6 PM -7 PM

7 PM -8 PM

8 PM -9 PM

9 PM -10 PM

10 PM-11 PM

11 PM-12 AM

Weekday Subway Ridership by Hour

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Source: OMB linked trips

15 out of 20 lines are at peak track capacity, including ten lines already at track and train (passenger carrying) capacity

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Subway Track Capacity by Line - AM Peak Hour (Peak Direction)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B C D E F GJZ L M N Q R

• Capacity measured at the Peak Load Point, where trains carry the heaviest load in the peak hour• Peak Load Point for busiest direction on each line shown above

• Colors indicate whether additional capacity is available• Red – constrained in both track and train capacity (10 lines) • Yellow – passenger capacity on existing trains but no track capacity to run more trains (5 lines) • Green – both track and train capacity available (5 lines)

103

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Heavy ridership affects system performance – closely correlated with delays

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500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500,000 4,000,000 4,500,000 5,000,000 5,500,000 6,000,000 6,500,000

Del

ays

Per W

eekd

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Weekday Ridership

December 2014 Weekday Delays vs. Ridership

Close to Average Daily Ridership

• We complete critical maintenance under traffic

• We have increased the frequency of infrastructure, track and signal inspections

• Every weekday, we average 400 work sites on the right of way, 150 of which occur between 9am and 4pm

• 75% of the work sites are for signals and track maintenance / repairs

• We work in approximately 4-5 locations per line during off-peak periods

Amidst ridership challenges, planned work on the right of way is essential to maintain a State of Good Repair

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In 2003, 3,900 delayed trains were due to planned work (6%).

In 2014, 113,000 delayed trains were due to planned work (26%).

Enhanced worker protection systems slow trains to protect workers on tracks

• Slow speeds (10 mph) past work sites ensure worker safety (“flagging”), but lower capacity

• Flagging rule enhancements since 2003 have lengthened slow speed zones and have added slow speed protection on adjacent tracks

Current rules – Total advance warning zone: 1,150ft

150 ft 1,000 ft720 ft

Current rules –Clear at 720ft

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• Even one small work zone requires more than 1/3 of a mile of slow train speed

• A typical slow speed zone reduces track capacity from 28 to 18 trains per track per hour

Service Improvement Plan

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Service Delivery efforts focus on reliable, evenly-spaced service, as measured by Wait Assessment

Wait assessment is the percent of intervals between trains that are not more than scheduled interval +25%, based on multiple observations in each trip

Wait assessment is a better measure of customer service than delays or OTP because:

• Unlike commuter rail, the vast majority of our riders are headway focused, not schedule focused

• Most customers ride only a portion of the line and do not ride terminal to terminal

• WA is calculated along each line and provides a more comprehensive picture of customer experience

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Scheduled Service

Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the expense of OTP

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Diagram depicts train positions as they pass stations (vertical) over time (horizontal)

6 6

Time

Pos

ition

alo

ng tr

ain’

s jo

urne

y

Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the expense of OTP

12Only select dwells shown

• Diagram depicts train positions as they pass stations (vertical) over time (horizontal)• Each plotted point represents the time that a train arrived in a station• Even train spacing is represented by parallel, evenly spaced string lines• Large spaces and nonparallel lines indicate uneven spacing, possibly due to incidents

6 6 Southbound 6 service, 12/22/14

Trains are mostly evenly spaced

Spacing is unevenThere are irregular gaps in

service

Southbound arrived 14th Street-Union Square

at 8:26 AM

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Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the expense of OTP (cont.)

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Train had an incident at 125th

Street causing a 13 minute

gap in service

Only select dwells shown 6 6 Southbound 6 service, 12/22/14

• Train dispatchers employ strategies to regulate train spacing, especially around an incident• Ahead of a delayed train, trains may be held to ensure a large gap in service does not follow • Once the incident has been cleared, trains may be instructed to skip stops to catch up and lessen

train bunching• Service management actions typically help Wait Assessment, often at the expense of OTP

Trains ahead were held in station to close the gap

from in front

The "incident train" and one train behind it were instructed to skip

stations (no station stop shown) to catch up and clear train congestion

Additional Delays due to incident and service

actions

Holding helped some intervals meet Wait

Assessment standard

Subway Schedules - First comprehensive revision since 1990s, when weekday ridership was equivalent to current Saturday ridership

1414

We have accelerated a thorough review of weekday schedules, will be fully implemented in 2015

Line-by-line, we are:

• Updating running times

• Providing terminal recovery times for arriving trains and crews to make return trips

• Adjusting schedules to better manage:

• Merges and terminal operations

• Even headways

• Adjustments for off-peak planned work

Will expand to weekend schedules in 2016

2014 Delays*

Different lines are impacted by different factors, service and incident management efforts vary by line

13% 11% 12%

52%

28%

40%

19%

26%

22%

16%

35%26%

Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,Sick Customers, etc.

System

444,897100%

Other

A Division

223,794

B Division

221,103

15*Delays February 2014-January 2015

We are launching initiatives to target primary challenges on specific lines, based on wait assessment performance

Targeted Lines Based on Wait Assessment Decline:

Crowding and Service Management

• Focus service management efforts on maintaining evenness of service (wait assessment)

• Reduce dwell times at problematic locations (initial focus is primarily on 6 line)

• Additional platform controllers, step aside boxes, and revising door announcements to speed door closing

• Monitor platform crowding conditions via cameras and staged personnel and respond to real-time conditions

• Improve communications during disruptions

• Formalize partnership with NYPD to assist with platform metering during incident

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Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,Sick Customers, etc.

Other

System Delays

Targeted Lines Based on Wait Assessment Decline:

Incident Prevention• Targeting highest incident locations and enhancing inspections

• Increased ultrasonic testing

• Aggressive Continuous Welded Rail installation

Incident Response

• CAT Teams: Signals, Track and Third Rail teams strategically deployed for quick response

• Lex Line Signals Coverage: signal staff staged along Lexington Corridor for accelerated response to incidents

• Additional multi-discipline response personnel

Improved Coordination of Planned Work to Minimize Impact

• Consolidate work planning to create multi-discipline work zones and decrease impact of planned work on service; targeting Lexington corridor for initial pilot implementation

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We are launching initiatives to target primary challenges on specific lines, based on wait assessment performance

Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,Sick Customers, etc.

Other

System Delays