The ways New York City transit went off the rails in 2024

This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.

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As this newsletter’s authors look back on 2024, there’s no doubt the city’s biggest transit story of the year was Gov. Kathy Hochul’s last-minute “pause” of congestion pricing, just before the program was set to launch in June. And then less than two weeks after November’s election, she announced the Manhattan tolls would be restored — albeit at a lower price point.

The pause forced the MTA to hold off on issuing billions of crucial construction projects, and overshadowed other major storylines in the transportation world, like Mayor Eric Adams’ failure to follow a law requiring dozens of miles of new bus and bike lanes across the city for another year.

The congestion pricing mishegas also distracted from several positive transportation stories, like the launch of modern new open gangway trains on the C trains. The MTA also reported that fare evasion in the subways has dropped slightly after the agency deployed private security guards near emergency gates. And students were finally able to ditch their flimsy MetroCards for OMNY cards.

​​​​​​Transit advocates and experts shared some of their own positive notes from the year.

“I would give major props to the MTA's open data program,” said Rachael Fauss, an analyst with the good government group Reinvent Albany. “The MTA has taken the legislative mandate and run with it, with dedicated expert staff.”

And Manhattan Institute fellow Nicole Gelinas, a long-time transit watchdog and critic, said the MTA made the right move when it replaced former NYC Transit President Richard Davey after he resigned in May. She gave the agency props “for promoting from within to make a person who is knowledgeable about the day-to-day operation of transit, Demetrius Crichlow, the president of Transit.”

“Less focus on superstars and more focus on what is achievable in the gritty everyday is welcome,” Gelinas wrote.

Here’s to a data-rich, fast, frequent and safe transit ride in 2025.

The most-read transportation stories this year

What stories did New Yorkers think were the biggest in transportation this year? Here are a few pieces our readers spent the most time reading, sharing and discussing:

• Why don’t MTA bus drivers enforce the fare? This was a question on many of your minds this year, and 2024's most-read transit story.
• The MTA indicated the new open gangway trains would also run on the A line. Then we found this memo.
• In March, the MTA announced a plan to spend $100 million to revitalize a couple grimy (but historic) subway stations.
• Also in March: Retail giant Westfield said crime at Fulton Transit Center was forcing it out.
• In July, we wrote about a proposal for a new high-speed train that would get New Yorkers to Boston in 100 minutes.
• This was also the year of fare evasion crackdowns. But at what cost? (In September, the MTA’s plans turned bloody when the NYPD opened fire on a suspected fare beater, hitting him and three other people, including another officer.)
• Bonus: Watch our most popular On The Way Instagram Reel here.

And a recap of this week's NYC transit news

• A taxi driver struck several pedestrians on a sidewalk near Herald Square on Christmas Day. Police say he was having a medical episode. Read more.
• On Tuesday, state leaders rejected the MTA’s $65.4 billion plan to restore and upgrade New York’s mass transit system, marking a major setback for an initiative that transit officials say is key to preventing subway, bus and commuter railroad service from falling into disrepair. Here’s what happened.
• The Guatemalan citizen charged Monday in the fiery death of a woman on the F train in Brooklyn had been deported by the United States six years ago, only to re-enter the country at a later date, according to an ICE official. Sebastian Zapeta, 33, told police that he drinks heavily and "doesn't know what happened," a prosecutor said at his arraignment.
• Nearly two years after Grand Central Madison opened and became one of the country’s most expensive train stations, its 32 retail spaces remain vacant. MTA officials had promised that would begin to change this fall. Are the restaurants still opening?
• There have been twice as many homicides in New York’s transit system so far this year as during the same time period in 2023 – even though overall violence in the system is slightly down, according to police data. So what’s going on exactly?