MTA
MTA on Oct. 15 reported beginning the environmental review process for the planned Interborough Express (IBX) under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. The commencement of environmental review is IBX’s first major milestone since entering the preliminary engineering and design phase in August.
According to MTA, there will be a series of three public meetings to explain the scope of the project and the review process. The first will be held Oct. 29 at Brooklyn College; the second will be held Nov. 6 at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, Queens; and the third will be virtual and held Nov. 12.
Following public outreach, the process will produce a Draft Scoping Document, and ultimately, a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project. This process will assess potential significant environmental benefits and impacts of the IBX project.
IBX is slated to connect nearly 900,000 New Yorkers in underserved areas of Brooklyn and Queens to the subway, bus, and Long Island Rail Road. The project is also expected to significantly reduce travel times between the two boroughs, with an end-to-end run time of 32 minutes along an existing 14-mile freight line owned by the MTA and Class I railroad CSX.
In August, the MTA Board authorized the selection of a joint venture between Jacobs and HDR, who will oversee the design and engineering phase of IBX. Project design, which got under way this summer, focuses on a light rail system design. MTA said this was determined to offer the best service to riders at the best value to the MTA, with about 70% of projected IBX riders expected to transfer within the MTA system. The project design work includes communications and signal design, vehicle design, track design, station design, among other components.
Once the design process is completed, the next step will ultimately create 19 stations that connect with 17 subway lines, 50 bus routes, and two LIRR stations. IBX will be the first new end-to-end rapid transit system built entirely within New York City since the IND Crosstown Line, now called the G, which fully opened in 1937. IBX stations in Queens will be the first new transit stations built since the Archer Avenue extension of the E, J, and Z lines to Jamaica in 1988.
According to MTA, the current project design phase is funded mainly through $45 million secured by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in the state’s 2025 budget and the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan; the total estimated cost of the IBX project is $5.5 billion.
“900,000 New Yorkers live along the proposed IBX route, and we’re not going to waste any time advancing this project for them,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “Launching the State environmental review process gives us the momentum we need to move this transformational effort toward construction.”
MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer added: “The IBX project will finally give Brooklyn and Queens the fast, reliable transit connection they deserve, and we’re ready to complete it faster, better, and cheaper. We look forward to putting shovels in the ground on this transformational project and sharing our ideas with customers.”
BART
BART on Oct. 14 reported that its ridership continues to grow, with notable gains on weekends as Saturday ridership in September was nearly 20% higher than the same month last year. More than 5 million trips were taken on BART in September 2025, exceeding expected trips by 5%, according to the transit agency. Overall, ridership saw a nearly 10% increase over the September 2024, it noted.
“The increase in ridership on the weekends, especially Saturdays, demonstrates that people are taking BART for purposes beyond getting to the office,” the transit agency said. “For example, the Japan v. Mexico soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 6, drew 23,000 trips to Coliseum Station, the third-highest ridership day for the station since the pandemic. In fact, ridership for the match was nearly a third higher than the average Saturday ridership for A’s games in 2019.”
BART said ridership growth is only part of the solution to its financial crisis. To close BART’s $375 million deficit with only fare revenue, current ridership levels would need to more than double, it said; BART’s latest budget forecast estimates a 4% ridership increase in 2026.
BART reported that its “slow and steady ridership recovery correlates with work from home rates in the region.” While individual riders are returning to BART, they’re taking fewer trips, likely due to remote and hybrid work schedules, it noted.
Following are BART September ridership highlights:
- September ridership was 10% higher compared to the previous year (5,047,000 total trips).
- Saturdays in September 2025 grew 20% over a year ago.
- Highest ridership day: Wednesday, Sept. 10 (220,073).
- BayPass, the region’s all-in-one transit pass, ridership more than doubled over last September, driven primarily by UC Berkeley students voting to expand the program to the entire study body of approximately 45,000. The BayPass referendum was approved with 90% “yes” votes, according to BART. Ridership growth at Downtown Berkeley Station has outpaced systemwide growth since the start of the Fall 2025 semester, it noted.
- Tap and Ride usage accounted for approximately 8% of total trips on weekdays and 12% on weekends. SFO Station accounts for nearly 30% of all Tap and Ride trips. Tap and Ride gives riders the ability to pay adult fares at BART fare gates using physical contactless credit or debit cards or mobile payment methods, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Usage of Clipper START, the region’s low-income discount fare program, is at an all-time high and accounted for 3.4% of total trips in September, reported BART, which noted that it has more Clipper START rides than any other agency.
BART also reported steady ridership growth in August.
SEPTA
“As SEPTA continues to build on its efforts to enhance safety and security on the system, SEPTA Transit Police reported a 10% reduction in serious crimes compared to the same period last year,” the transit authority announced Oct. 15. “This comes after Transit Police marked the largest one-year drop in serious crimes in its 43-year history.”
According to the newly released quarterly data (download below), SEPTA said there were reductions in seven of the eight serious crime categories, including aggravated assaults and thefts.
Transit Police are prioritizing fare evasion by issuing more than 6,300 citations so far this year—a 47% increase compared to last year, according to SEPTA. This effort, it said, has helped identify other illegal activity, resulting in more than 700 arrests of wanted individuals.
Transit Police are focusing enforcement at known fare evasion “hot spots,” SEPTA reported. For example, a four-week blitz at Huntingdon Station on the Market-Frankford Line [L] is said to have nearly eliminated fare evasion while officers were on site.
To stop fare evasion before it starts, SEPTA is upgrading its infrastructure. New full-height fare gates, tested successfully at 69th Street Transit Center, are being installed at nine additional Metro stations, according to the transit agency.
SEPTA also launched a Surface Transportation Unit dedicated to enforcing fare compliance on buses and trolleys, where entry is not controlled by fare gates.
“We are hearing directly from our riders that they feel safer at our stations and on board our vehicles,” SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer said. “Our Customer Satisfaction Survey scores for safety and security have increased to their highest levels since 2023.”
“We are working to change the culture around paying a fare,” added SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles Lawson. “It is a challenge faced by transit systems across the country, and SEPTA is no exception, but we are taking real steps to address it.”
SEPTA in July released its crime report for the first half of 2025.
