MTA 'Rush Hour' Is Round-The-Clock During COVID: Study

NEW YORK CITY — Wave goodbye to the pre-coronavirus rush hour — the crush for subways and buses is now 24/7, according to a new study.

The study — Beyond Rush Hour: COVID-19 and the Future of Public Transit — released by Sunday by city Comptroller Scott Stringer found 61 percent of essential worker jobs in New York City are outside the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday but MTA's schedules still don't accommodate them.

“The data is clear: the new rush hour is around the clock—and we need to reform our outdated transit system to meet people when and where they are in a post-pandemic economy,” Stringer said in a statement.

MTA ridership cratered as the pandemic ground everyday life in New York City to a halt starting in March 2020.

Subway and bus ridership are still at 50 percent and 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to the study.

But Stringer's researchers found a closer look showed ridership at times previously considered "off hours" had recovered faster.

Weekend ridership, for example, recovered far faster than weekdays, and particularly in recent months, they found.

"While many New Yorkers appear to be foregoing weekday commuting, they continue to rely on the subway on Saturdays and Sundays," the study states. "Weekend subway ridership is now at 65 percent of pre-pandemic levels, even as weekday ridership hovers at an anemic 51 percent..."

Not only that, much of ridership has shifted away from Manhattan, where subway and bus travel dropped 66 percent and 52 percent during the pandemic, the study found. It argued that the subway system could primarily serve lower-income New Yorkers if remote and hybrid work becomes the permanent post-pandemic norm for predominantly Manhattan-based white-collar workers.

The study recommends that MTA put a "New York City in Six" plan in place that runs all subways and high-traffic bus routes on an every-six-minutes schedule.

It also recommends the state should encourage employers to subsidize transit expenses for workers and redirect two-thirds of gas tax revenue to public transit.

The city's Department of Transportation should add 35 miles of bus-only corridors and dedicated, protected bus lanes each year to reduce crowding and pressure on the subway system, it states.

Read the full report here.