Subway Ridership Dropped Again in New York as Passengers Flee to Uber

NEW YORK — In another alarming sign of the crisis plaguing New York City’s subway, ridership dropped for the second year in a row as passengers flee the system for Uber and other ride-hailing services, draining the transit system of badly needed revenue.

Annual subway ridership fell in 2017 to about 1.73 billion trips, down about 2 percent from 2015, according to statistics from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and subway officials said ridership continues to slip, falling during the first five months of this year by about 2 percent.

The number of people using the subway had soared by 2015 to the highest level since 1948 — at times carrying more than 6 million riders in a single day — but the figures began to fall in 2016 as service grew increasingly less reliable. Last year, about 5.6 million riders used the subway on average each weekday, a significant decline that comes even as the city’s population and the number of visitors have risen.

The authority’s chairman, Joseph J. Lhota, has said the decline was caused by poor service, the rapid rise of Uber and other for-hire vehicles and fare evasion. The ride-hail apps are offering a compelling alternative, he said, comparing it to his daily conundrum over choosing Pepsi or Coke.

“When you have choice, you take advantage of the choices,” Lhota told reporters after an authority board meeting last week.

But the declining subway ridership could have wide-ranging consequences: It could hurt the transit agency’s finances, increase street congestion and stall the city’s economic success as it competes against global cities with better transportation networks. Subway and bus revenue was about $54.8 million less than anticipated this year, or about 3 percent below projections, according to the authority.

The growing concerns about gridlock on city streets has prompted the City Council to consider new legislation to rein in Uber and other services by setting a cap on new vehicles. Uber is vigorously fighting the cap proposal, urging its army of millions of riders to oppose the legislation.

Most of the decline in subway ridership is taking place outside Manhattan in the neighborhoods where Uber and other apps are growing, subway officials said during a presentation to the authority’s board last week. New Yorkers with longer commutes to Manhattan are more likely to be swept up in delays and seek alternatives. But unreliable subway service raises concerns over equity because not everyone can afford to pay for an Uber or Lyft ride.

New York’s ridership drop is not an isolated trend — transit ridership across the country is in decline. Other subways, including systems in Washington and Boston, have also been plagued by problems with aging infrastructure.

The erosion of riders on public transit systems follows two decades of strong growth between 1995 and 2015, said Art Guzzetti, a vice president at the American Public Transportation Association.

“Rail was truly in a renaissance period and cities were coming back along with it,” Guzzetti said.

The recent loss of rail riders is linked largely to problems with reliability and a struggle by transit agencies to keep their systems in good condition, Guzzetti said. But rail is still the most efficient and affordable way to whisk people around dense cities.

“It’s good to have options,” he said. “Nothing is going to have the affordability of transit.”

In less than a decade, Uber and other ride-hail companies have transformed the transportation networks in cities across the country. Their growth has been so robust that by the end of this year, taxi and ride-hail trips are expected to surpass local bus ridership for the first time, according to a new report by Bruce Schaller, a transportation expert.

Taxis and the for-hire vehicle sector are expected to grow to 4.74 billion trips by the end of 2018, growing past the projected ridership on local bus services of about 4.66 billion trips, according to the report. Schaller said the move toward vehicles created a long-term risk “that neighborhoods are simply overwhelmed by traffic volumes and become less desirable places to live, work and do business.”

Uber, which successfully fought off an attempt by Mayor Bill de Blasio to introduce a vehicle cap in 2015, is on the defensive during its latest battle with the City Council. The company’s central argument is that New Yorkers need Uber more than ever since the subway is in crisis.

Uber’s leaders have also highlighted its car pool option, known as UberPOOL, and supported congestion pricing — a proposal to toll vehicles entering Manhattan’s busiest areas.

“It shouldn’t be a surprise that New Yorkers are choosing an affordable, reliable option like UberPOOL in outer-borough communities underserved by an underfunded transit system designed a century ago to primarily serve Manhattan office workers,” Josh Gold, a spokesman for Uber, said in a statement.

Bus ridership also continues to decline — it was down nearly 4.5 percent so far this year. Bus ridership has dropped about 14 percent between 2006 and 2017, to about 725 million annual riders from about 843 million.

Andy Byford, the new leader of the subway and bus system, has promised to address the problems plaguing both networks. Byford wants to redesign the entire bus system by 2021. His plan for the subway calls for speeding up the installation of new signals to increase capacity.

On the subways, much of the decrease in ridership has happened at night, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., subway officials said. Queens and the Bronx have seen the greatest reductions in riders.

Even New Yorkers who pay for unlimited monthly or weekly passes are using them less, said Timothy Mulligan, the executive vice president of New York City Transit. The number of students riding the system has also dropped. Construction work to make repairs to the subway was also affecting ridership, Mulligan said.

The authority’s passenger revenue projections for the entire system, which includes subways, buses and commuter railroads, were $376 million lower than expected over the next four years. “I think it’s worrisome because we’re continuing to create jobs, the population is increasing, we’re building new housing — there’s no objective reason for subway ridership to be down, other than people are so frustrated with the service that they’re looking for other options,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Last year, transit officials said Uber might be contributing to the ridership declines. But they were more definitive last week that the riders leaving the subway are moving to ride-hail companies.

Asked whether subway ridership would continue to decline, Mulligan said that would depend in part on what happens to the for-hire vehicle industry.

“I don’t think all of the dust has settled,” he said, “in terms of what the regulatory environment and pricing is going to settle down into.”