The absence of workers at the height of the coronavirus crisis in New York City forced MTA to cancel 41 percent of the subway in one day, The Post has learned.
Internal data show that between March 26 and April 19, almost a quarter of all scheduled trains never ran – leaving many drivers waiting on the platform and forced into the subway that was fraught with danger.
“If you miss one run, it could mean up to 30 minutes more waiting for the driver. Getting above 40 minutes is not unheard of,” one transit source familiar with MTA scheduling told The Post.
More than 8,700 transit employees have been sidelined by the virus, MTA said.
The information flood began in earnest on Monday, March 16, the same day MTA instituted social distance rules for its employees.
That day, 1.3 percent of the 8,868 scheduled trains did not run because the conductor or operator did not appear.
The number of trains canceled due to “abandonment” by conductors or motorbikes has increased sevenfold a week later, prompting MTA to announce service reductions on March 24.
In fact, the agency technically continued to operate on a normal workday schedule until April 8, when it officially adopted the “important service” schedule, according to data obtained by The Post.
“We are having difficulty getting important services for quite a long time,” the source said. “Because staffing is very low, ‘essential services’ are more a framework than reality.”
Meanwhile, a large number of workers exclaim sick, with many positive tests for COVID-19, and others raising concerns about the lack of protective equipment they offer.
The level of canceled trains surged to a peak of 41 percent on Saturday, April 4. This cancellation forced many foreigners into dangerous subways, even when passengers dropped off dramatically.
In the first two weeks of April, an average of 26 percent of train schedules were canceled per day due to missing workers, data showed.
The rate began to decline after that, and has been under 1 percent since April 28.
MTA said 123 employees had died of coronavirus, all but three from the city bus and subway divisions.
Requested for comment, MTA representatives said the initial service return was carried out “manually, in real-time for customers,” and “carried out in stages when they were available between April 3 and April 14.”
The spokesman said the high cancellation rate “did not always” cause subway density, some of which was caused by “unanticipated changes in travel patterns.”
MTA Chair Pat Foye acknowledged the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on services at an agency board meeting on Wednesday.
“Our employees have been hit by a virus, but we are happy to say that it seems we are turning,” said Foye, who himself was infected with a bug.
“I am pleased to say that cancellations have now dropped to less than half a percent.”
