Subway riders are voting with their feet and with their swipes.
Subway ridership surpassed six million on six different days in October, the first time it has hit the six million mark multiple times in a month since Governor Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the system two and a half years ago.
"I think it definitely get more frequent I feel like it's been improving. I don't see any problems lately," said commuter George Zhao.
"It has significantly improved. I can notice a difference," said Rosegaelle Belinga, another commuter.
Ridership in October peaked at 6.1 million trips on Thursday, the 24th.
The turnaround follows the MTA's decision to spend more than $800 million on emergency repairs to pull the system from a state of crisis.
The agency also hired a new president of New York City Transit, Andy Byford, to oversee the subway and bus system. He began in January 2018. One of his priorities: Recalibrating signals so more trains can run closer to the posted speed limits.
"We have safely sped up the subway customer journeys now are quicker, they're more reliable and customers are noticing with increased customer satisfaction, increased ridership," said transit boss Andy Byford.
In October, the MTA saw more than 5.7 million trips on an average weekday or 11,000 more rides a day than the same time last year.
"It shows riders are also noticing these improvements and performance and are coming back and riding the system more," said Sally Librera, SVP of the MTA Subways.
October was the sixth consecutive month than more than 80 percent of subway trains ran on time.
Nearly every line completed rush hour trips from terminal to terminal, faster than the year before.
Still an average of nearly 1 in 5 trains run complete their trips behind schedule, making e-hail services like Uber and Lyft an attractive alternative for many New Yorkers.
"Lately I've been using a lot of Uber rides because Uber Share saves. Sometimes it's easier and faster," said Pedro Sacilotto, a third commuter.
On the weekday its a little better, not as many issues they seem to fix construction on weekends. But I still would say there's still delays, going back and forth, especially during rush hour," said Jasmine Izad, a fourth commuter.
MTA officials hope to keep the momentum going in the New Year, believing that they can push subway performance up to 90 percent of trains running on time.