Off-Peak is the New On-Peak

“The new normal for big-city transit agencies is the off-peak rider,” asserts Alissa Walker in Curbed. “The same numbers of people aren’t flooding into central business districts every weekday, but ridership for many agencies has surged on afternoons and weekends.”

Walker continues, “Existing MTA schedules specifically fail workers who have shift or service jobs that don’t follow nine-to-five commuting patterns, according to the ‘Round the Clock is the New Rush Hour’ report by the City Comptroller’s Office.”

These off-peak riders are the people the MTA had in mind when it announced a four-phase plan to increase off-peak service by 2024. The service expansion will start in July with weekend enhancements on three lines — G, J, M — selected because their ridership trends are already demonstrating faster recovery compared to elsewhere on the system.

On the question of whether improving off-peak service would help the agency’s struggling bottom line, Walker writes, “Transit expenditure expert Alon Levy estimates increasing MTA service to six minutes or less systemwide could increase ridership by 15 percent,” though that may not directly translate into higher revenue.

Making New York City transit faster, better, and safer is necessary but not sufficient for bringing back ridership and pulling the MTA back from its fiscal cliff. Walker notes that Gov. Hochul’s state budget also includes a new payroll tax slated to bring over $1 billion in new annual funding for the MTA, and $35 million dedicated to improving off-peak service.