NEW YORK — Subway on-time performance continues to improve, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported on Tuesday, with weekday on-time performance in October at 81.5%, a 15.9% improvement over October 2018 and the fifth straight month with on-time performance above 80 percent.

“I am very proud to see that subway performance continues to improve thanks to the hard work of our team and our unrelenting drive to get the basics right,” New York City Transit President Andy Byford said in a press release. “Improvements are the norm now, and I expect we will continue to get better results before we embark on the modernizations and upgrades in the next proposed MTA Capital Plan.” 

The eight major subway lines all posted on-time figures over 80 percent; just one did so in October 2018. Other metrics of note included a reduction of major incidents causing delays from 52 to 44, a 15% improvement. More than 83% of riders completed their trips within five minutes of the scheduled time.