Metro

The best and worst transit moments of 2013

Hurricane Sandy, stranded subway kittens and improved technology dominated this year’s lists of best and worst city transit events, a rider advocacy group announced Wednesday morning.

Straphangers Campaign lists last March’s fare hikes as the No. 1 worst in city transit events in 2013, while ranking the best MTA’s decision last month to drastically slash two fare increases nearly in half in 2015 and 2017.

To no surprise, the wake of destruction left by Hurricane Sandy was also among the worst events in 2013. The gripes include the $4.9 billion bill to repair the transit system and what the Straphangers Campaign called “the seemingly endless parade of major reconstruction projects” post-Sandy, including the R train tunnel, South Ferry station and “flood mitigation” for seven downtown Manhattan subway stations.

Also in the worst list are “grim and dreary” subway platforms with exposed wiring and areas of missing tile, graffiti and floor cracks, found in a Straphangers Campaign study of 862 platforms.

Subway mortality was also a concern, coming in at the eighth worst event. The group said more people will die on MTA rail lines than any other year since 2008.

“Are these deaths an issue that the MTA can afford to, and should, tackle with new technology?” the group asked.

Arthur and August were stranded on the subway tracks.AP

Rounding out the worst list at No. 10 is what the group called the “biggest transit mistake during the 2013 mayoral campaign,” when Republican candidate Joe Lhota said he wouldn’t cut off power to subway lines to save two cuddly kittens on the tracks.

But the best things to happen to Big Apple transit this year, the group said, include Tom Prendergast’s appointment as MTA’s newest chair, expansions to Select Bus Service and an increase in subway ridership.

“The subway’s 2012 ridership of 1.654 billion was the highest in 62 years,” Straphangers Campaign said. “Average weekend ridership on the subway grew by 3 percent, matching the all-time historic high for weekend ridership set in 1946.”

Other transit improvements like $18 million in MTA service expansions and upgrades in technology, including MTA Bus Time service and MTA Subway Time mobile app, made it to the best list.

The lists are compiled annually by the Straphanger Campaign, a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Last year, Hurricane Sandy ranked No. 1 on both lists, the worst for wreaking havoc throughout the subway system and best for subways bouncing back just days after the devastating storm.