NEW YORK - MTA officials wanted to share good news early - subway performance in February was the best in years.

More than 75 percent of weekday trains were on time, compared to 60 percent in February of last year.

Trains broke down less often and major disruptions - those affecting more than 50 trains - were down 14 percent.

“The improvements are real, they’re tangible and they’re growing," MTA President Pat Foye said.

MTA officials attributed the better service to a nearly $840 million blitz of improvements and restoring higher speed-limits at more than 50 locations around the system.

The improvements are more than just numbers on paper.

Officials also said that riders are noticing. Complaints are down and train crews are relaying positive reports from the field.

“We hear consistently from them that the feedback they’re getting from customers is that we have more to do but they see the difference," Sally Librera, vice president of subways for NYC Transit, said.

Riders tell NY1 they’ve noticed better trips during the week, even if weekend rides are still a grind.

“It feels better and also the timing of the train is getting better," one rider said.

“Weekdays, I don’t have no complaints right now - it could be better, especially if they want to raise the fares," another commuter said.

The MTA was eager to share the numbers to show skeptical state lawmakers it can be trusted with more money for additional capital improvements.

The Legislature is weighing whether to raise much of that money through congestion pricing a new fee on vehicles entering Manhattan south of 61st Street.

“What we really need is the sustained investment to resignal the subway and to do the work that our capital plan envisages," NYC Transit President Andy Byford said.

Byford did warn of “oscillations” in subway performance data - for instance, there was a slight increase in the average number of major disruptions attributed to malfunctioning signals and train cars over the past 12 months.

But MTA officials say progress is going in the right direction and they need more funding to keep on track.