Subway Rider Satisfaction Survey: Subway's All Right

Newsday has results of the MTA's latest annual rider survey, and it seems that in 2004, riders gave the subways the same score as they did in 1994. The article says that the MTA and even subway critics are "puzzled," because the billions poured into the subway system have improved the system overall: There are less subway car breakdowns (only every 140,000 miles, versus every 50,000 in 1994) and almost 2000 new subway cars have been installed. The subway survey judges 15 different areas (we can't find the survey yet, but we'll link it when we find it), and Newsday reports that crowding was a big complaint, so that could be driving the lower-than-expected score, while others suspect the subways will always be a bane for some riders. Gothamist would like to chime in that news of fare hikes last year could have also contributed to people's poor opinions - people think they're paying more for the same ol', same ol'. And inevitably, as the subways continue to improve and the MTA promises to improve them, people expect subway service to be that much better.

And while the the average score last year (and in 1994) was 6.1 on a 10 scale, riders gave the system a 3.5 in 1984. Subway riders do think the trains are dirty.