The 7's on-time performance jumped from 68% to 91% in the year after CBTC switched on, and held. The G runs at 80%.
Monthly weekday terminal on-time performance, January 2015 to July 2026. The dashed line marks the 7's CBTC activation in November 2018; the L has run on CBTC since 2009; the G still runs on its 1930s fixed-block signals.
- 7 (CBTC since Nov 2018)
- L (CBTC since 2009)
- G (1930s fixed-block signals)
The jump is the payoff the G is waiting for. The 7 averaged 73% on-time in the three years before its CBTC activation and 91% in the seven years after, and the MTA now calls the 7 and L its best-performing lines. The G, still on fixed blocks, has never finished a year above 89%.
Two honest caveats. Every line's numbers improved in 2020 and 2021, when COVID cut ridership and service; the 7's jump came in 2019, before the pandemic. And the L slipped to 86% in mid-2026 as its first-generation CBTC equipment, installed from 2003, nears the end of its useful life: modern signals deliver, and age faster than the relays they replace.
Metric. Terminal on-time performance is the MTA's standard schedule measure: the share of trains reaching their final terminal within five minutes of schedule without skipping stops, published monthly per line in the Subway Terminal On-Time Performance dataset. Weekday values shown (day type 1), as published, with no smoothing.
Dates. The 7's CBTC went live along the full line on November 26, 2018 (Railway Gazette); the L's CBTC was installed from 2003 and operational by 2009. The G's activation is currently projected for 2029; see the CBTC timelines chart.
Sources: Author's analysis of MTA data via data.ny.gov.