They did a heckuva job — so long as the bad days don’t count.
MTA bosses shamelessly patted themselves on the back Wednesday for the transit system’s performance during back-to-back snowstorms that blasted the Big Apple, in part by cherry-picking rosy numbers that left out the worst weather days.
Even as the agency’s board meeting kicked off, straphangers on eight different subway lines dealt with delays and reroutes that persisted days after a historic blizzard walloped the city.
Still, MTA honcho Janno Lieber was itching to proclaim victory over Old Man Winter.
“I got to make sure everyone understands the storm response was a success,” Lieber said to kick off the board meeting.
“It all paid off. In the end, we kept the subway system running through the blizzard, albeit with delays and adjustments.”
The self-congratulation didn’t stop with this week’s blizzard.
New York City Transit chief Demetrius Crichlow touted data showing 82% of last month’s subway trips were on-time.
But a small-print disclaimer buried in MTA documents undercut the triumphant headline.
“Official metrics exclude OTP on Sunday, January 25 and Monday, January 26 due to the severe winter storm disruptions,” the report’s footnote reads, meaning the MTA quietly removed some of its worst-performing days and fluffed official subway statistics.
Similar exclusions were used to calculate bus and paratransit performance, with delays due to Winter Storm Fern stripped out of those metrics as well.
“January’s late-month record breaking snowstorm challenged our ability to deliver at the high levels of performance achieved recently,” board materials stated.
The transit system struggled long after Winter Storm Fern arrived, Crichlow acknowledged, revealing weekday on‑time performance slid from 84.3% before the storm to 74.4% “in the days after,” as frozen pipes, iced‑over yards and signal problems hampered service into February.
“Our home is 120 years old,” he said, insisting crews “did an amazing job” restoring performance “back to over 80%” by mid‑February.
The historic blizzard that slammed New York City beginning Sunday and into Monday created another wave of transit woes.
Delays and shutdowns persisted into Tuesday’s morning and evening commutes — as well as Wednesday — as the city dug itself out from at least 2 feet of snow.
Lieber took offense when pressed by reporters about the bad service.
“I really resent the idea of substandard service on a day when there’s a historic blizzard,” he said.
He then defended the MTA omitting two awful weather days from January’s on-time data.
“There was an asterisk that identified the days that we’re treated differently, Lieber said, “but as for characterizing performance in the subway system during a blizzard as sub standard, I don’t know about that.”