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The MTA Network

Public Transportation for the New York Region

Click here for agency facts and figures
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America's largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut.

It drives the New York regional economy by opening up countless job opportunities for millions – jobs that are miles from home are easy to get to with our subways, buses, and commuter trains. And after work, the network enables them to get to leisure activities: music, theater, cultural events, sports, and shopping more varied than anywhere in the country.

MTA subways, buses, and railroads provide 2.73 billion trips each year to New Yorkers – the equivalent of about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders. MTA bridges and tunnels carry more than 297 million vehicles a year – more than any bridge and tunnel authority in the nation.

While nearly 85 percent of the nation's workers need automobiles to get to their jobs, four of every five rush-hour commuters to New York City's central business districts avoid traffic congestion by taking transit service – most of it operated by the MTA. MTA customers travel on America's largest bus fleet and on more subway and rail cars than all the rest of the country's subways and commuter railroads combined.

This mobility helps ensure New York's place as a world center of finance, commerce, culture, and entertainment, and New York ranks near the top among the nation's best cities for business, Fortune magazine has written, because it has "what every city desires. A workable mass transit system."

MTA mass transit helps New Yorkers avoid about 17 million metric tons of pollutants while emitting only 2 million metric tons, making it perhaps the single biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) avoidance in the United States. The people living in our service area lead carbon-efficient lives, making New York the most carbon-efficient state in the nation.

Over the past three decades, the MTA has committed some $102.4 billion to restore and improve the network so that today it runs at unprecedented levels of efficiency. Our employees at all of our agencies work diligently to maintain high service and safety standards.

The MTA is continuing its rebuilding and improvement efforts through the 2015-2019 Capital Program and has committed significant resources to the first substantial expansion of the network in 60 years, including Long Island Rail Road access to Grand Central, the uptown segment of a full-length Second Avenue subway, and the extension of the number 7 line west from Times Square to the Javits Center.

A public-benefit corporation chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1968, the MTA is governed by a 17-member Board. Members are nominated by the Governor, with four recommended by New York City's mayor and one each by the county executives of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam counties. (Members representing the latter four cast one collective vote.) All Board members are confirmed by the New York State Senate.

MTA Totals at a Glance*
2016 operating budget
 $15.1 billion
Annual ridership
 2,725,643,461
Average weekday ridership
8,764,983
Rail and subway lines, and bus routes
 357
Rail and subway cars
 8,889
Buses
 5,725
Track miles
 2,080
Bus route miles
 2,952
Rail and subway stations
 736
Employees
 68,824
* Financial data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical data for year ending December 31, 2015.

MTA New York City Transit

See MTA New York City Transit statistics below, or go to maps of the system, or agency home page.

Subway in the sky
When the subway opened in 1904, it launched an unprecedented era of growth and prosperity for the newly unified New York City. One hundred years later, the city's reliance on its underground rapid transit system is greater than ever. NYC Transit keeps New York moving 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as its subways speed through underground tunnels and elevated structures in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. On Staten Island, the MTA Staten Island Railway links 22 communities.

Motor-bus service on the streets of Manhattan began in 1905. Today, NYC Transit's buses run in all five boroughs, on more than 200 local and 30 express routes. They account for 80 percent of the city's surface mass transportation.

NYC Transit also administers paratransit service throughout New York City to provide transportation options for people with disabilities.

MetroCard®, the MTA's automated fare collection medium, is accepted on all New York City Transit subway stations and on buses. It can also be used on MTA Bus, Nassau Inter-county Express (NICE) bus, and on the PATH system (operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey), a subway linking New York and New Jersey.

Among NYC Transit's capital projects are additional new subway cars and a state-of-the-art "communication-based” signal system to replace mechanical signals dating to 1904.

MTA New York City Transit at a Glance*
Subway in four boroughs, buses and paratransit in five boroughs.
2016 operating budget
 $10.9 billion
Annual ridership
 2,426,577,685
Average weekday passengers
7,763,805
Subway lines
 27
Bus routes
 233
Subway cars
 6,407
Buses
 4,451
Track miles
 662
Bus route miles
 2,057
Subway stations
 472
Employees
 47,880
*Financial data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical data for the year ending December 31, 2015.

The MTA Staten Island Railway*
2016 operating budget
 $78.8 million
Annual ridership
 4,501,937
Average weekday passengers
16,025
Subway lines
 1
Rail cars
63
Track miles
29
Rail Stations
22
Employees
 308
Financial data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical information for the year ending December 31, 2015

MTA Bus Company

See MTA Bus Company statistics below or the NYC Transit home page.

The MTA Bus Company was created in September 2004 to assume the operations of seven bus companies that operated under franchises granted by the New York City Department of Transportation.

The takeover of the lines began in 2005 and was completed early in 2006.

MTA Bus is responsible for both the local and express bus operations of the seven companies, consolidating operations, maintaining current buses, and purchasing new buses to replace the aging fleet currently in service.

MTA Bus operates 47 local routes in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, and 35 express bus routes between Manhattan and the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Queens. It has a fleet of more than 1,200 buses, the 11th largest bus fleet in the United States and Canada.

MTA Bus at a Glance*
Buses in four boroughs
2016 operating budget
$814.8 million
Annual ridership
125,399,571
Average weekday ridership
405,978
Bus routes
82
Buses
 1,255
Bus route miles
812
Employees
 3,732
*Financial Data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical data for the year ending December 31, 2015.

MTA Long Island Rail Road

See MTA Long Island Rail Road statistics below, or go to the map of the system, or home page.

Penn Station entrance
The Long Island Rail Road is both the largest commuter railroad and the oldest railroad in America operating under its original name. Chartered in 1834, it extends from three major New York City terminals — Penn Station, Flatbush Avenue, and Hunterspoint Avenue — through a major transfer hub at Jamaica to the easternmost tip of Long Island.

Traditionally serving a Manhattan-bound market, the LIRR has undertaken extensive efforts to augment its reverse-commute and off-peak service to meet the needs of businesses in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The railroad has replaced many of its oldest electric cars with state-of-the-art M-7 rail cars and has modernized its entire diesel fleet with new locomotives, bilevel coaches, and "dual-mode” locomotives that operate in both diesel and electrified territory, enabling many customers to travel between Long Island and Manhattan without changing trains.

Through the Capital Program, the railroad has restored Jamaica Station (Queens), the transfer point for the AirTrain to JFK Airport, and has restored Atlantic Terminal (Brooklyn).

MTA Long Island Rail Road at a Glance*
Rail lines in Nassau and Suffolk counties and in
New York City
2016 operating budget
 $1.9 billion
Annual ridership
87,648,046
Average weekday ridership
304,848
Rail lines
 11
Rail cars
 1,161
Track miles
 594
Rail stations
 124
Employees
 6,967
* Financial data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical data for the year ending December 31, 2015.

MTA Metro-North Railroad

See MTA Metro-North Railroad statistics below, or go to the system map, or agency home page.

Metro-North train
Metro-North Railroad is second largest commuter railroad in the nation. Its main lines — the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven — run northward out of Grand Central Terminal, a Beaux-Arts Manhattan landmark, into suburban New York and Connecticut. Grand Central has been completely restored and redeveloped as a retail hub — a destination in its own right.

West of the Hudson River, Metro-North's Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines operate from NJ Transit's Hoboken terminal and provide service to Rockland and Orange counties. With the opening of Secaucus Junction, West-of-Hudson customers can now transfer to trains that will carry them directly to Newark or New York's Penn Station, and the Pascack Valley Line has introduced weekend service for the first time in 60 years.

The railroad upgraded its rolling stock through the acquisition of M-7 rail cars for Harlem and Hudson Line service has introduced M-8 cars - in partnership with the State of Connecticut - to replace the aging New Haven Line fleet. These high-tech cars are more comfortable and more reliable, especially in winter weather. The railroad is also completing a 21st century fiber-optic system to provide more reliable communication with staff and customers.

MTA Metro-North Railroad at a Glance*
Rail lines in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, and Rockland counties and in Connecticut and New York City.
2016 operating budget
 $1.6 billion
Annual ridership
 86,018,159
Average weekday passengers
289,596
Rail lines
 6**
Rail cars
 1,268
Track miles
 787
Rail stations
 123
Employees
 6,211
* Financial data as of February 24, 2016;
statistical data for the year ending December 31, 2015
** Includes a line not in service

MTA Bridges and Tunnels

See MTA Bridges and Tunnels statistics below, or go to the regional map, or the agency home page.

Verrazano Bridge

MTA Bridges and Tunnels (B&T) was created in 1933 by Robert Moses. It now serves more than 868,000 vehicles each weekday — over 310 million vehicles each year — and carries more traffic than any other bridge and tunnel authority in the nation. Surplus revenues from the authority's tolls help support MTA public transit services.

B&T’s bridges are the Robert F. Kennedy, Throgs Neck, Verrazano-Narrows, Bronx-Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial, and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial; its tunnels are the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and Queens Midtown. These are all within New York City, and they all accept payment by E-ZPass, an electronic toll collection system that moves traffic through B&T toll plazas faster and more efficiently. As of April 2017, eighty-nine percent of the vehicles that use MTA Bridges and Tunnels crossings on weekdays use E-ZPass.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels is a cofounder of the E-ZPass Interagency Group, which has implemented seamless toll collection in 16 states, including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia. A single E-ZPass account can be used to pay tolls for any of the member agencies of this group.

B&T is implementing cashless tolling in 2017. Drivers will now no longer have to stop to pay tolls. No cash will be accepted at B&T toll plazas and customers can pay a discounted toll with E-ZPass or receive an undiscounted bill in the mail.  Go here to get more information about cashless tolling, and here to sign up for E-ZPass.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels at a Glance*
Seven bridges and two tunnels in New York City; toll revenues help subsidize mass trains

2017 Operating Budget

$576.7 million

Support to Mass Transit

$1.126 billion

Average Weekday Vehicles

868,000

Bridges

7

Tunnels

2

Employees

1,589

* Operating budget data as of February 2017; Support to Mass Transit and other statistical data as of December 31, 2016

MTA Capital Construction

See MTA Capital Construction statistics below or the agency website.

MTA Capital Construction Company was formed in July 2003 to serve as the construction management company for MTA expansion projects, downtown mobility projects, and MTA-wide security projects.

Capital Construction has a core group of employees and draws on the expertise of construction and other professionals at the MTA agencies as well as on the nation's leading construction consulting firms. It recently completed the award-winning Fulton Center project and the 7 line extension. The first phase of the Second Avenue Subway will be completed this year, with trains operating along the new line between 63rd Street and 96th Street on the East Side of Manhattan beginning December.

Expansion Projects

East Side Access — connection of Long Island Rail Road to new terminal in Grand Central

Second Avenue Subway — subway line from 125th Street to the Financial District

7 Line Extension — extension of subway from Time Square to the Javits Center; supported entirely by New York City funds

Downtown Mobility Project

Fulton Center — new station linking A subwayC subwayJ subwayZ subway2 subway3 subway4 subway5 subway lines; underground concourse to E subwayR subway1 subway lines, PATH, World Trade Center site

MTA Capital Construction Planned Project Costs*
Construction management for MTA Capital Program expansion, downtown mobility, and network security projects.
2016 operating budget
$37.6 million
Continuing Projects
 Total cost
East Side Access
(2022 completion)
 $10.18 billion
Second Avenue Subway
(Phase 1, 2016 completion)
$4.45 billion
7 Line Extension
(NYC-funded; completed 2015)
$2.42 billion
Completed Projects  
Fulton Center
(completed 2015)
$1.4 billion
* Budget as of February 24, 2016;
project data as of June 2015

For more information about the MTA and its agencies, write:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Marketing & Corporate Communications
2 Broadway, 4th floor, New York, NY 10004

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