The MTA is telling you something: Avoid the 2 and 5 trains at all costs.
An analysis of the agency’s subway-delay alerts to riders shows that the 2 and 5 lines have had the most “significant” incidents that lead to longer waits.
Those lines each accounted for 8 percent of all 2011 service alerts, according to the study released by the Straphangers Campaign yesterday.
On average, straphangers on those lines receive alerts warning them of possible delays “expected to last eight to 10 minutes or more” almost five times a day, according to the report.
Meanwhile, G-train riders — who received the fewest service alerts — got bad news from the MTA less than once a week on average, according to the study.
In all, the G train had a mere 45 service alerts in 2011.
“It’s always something!” fumed Drew Brown, 27, a 5-train rider from Brooklyn.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the a.m. when you’re trying to get to work or the weekends. As long as I can remember, there were always the same kind of problems on this line.”
Bronx commuter Shane Percival — who rides the 2 “pretty much every day” — said there are so many delays that he’s notoriously tardy everywhere he goes.
“That train always has to stop for something and make me late to wherever I need to go,” he said.
“It’s pretty much an everyday occurrence, so it’s inconvenient and annoying. People have places to be.”
His line isn’t the only one plagued by delays.
Other troubled lines include the N train, which had 215 serious alerts, followed closely by the F train, with 213, and the 4 train, with 204.
The Straphangers Campaign did not include 1,613 alerts from 2011 that were issued for incidents out of the MTA’s control, such as police action or sick passengers.
This is the first year that the group has analyzed MTA alerts, which the agency began offering passengers in 2008. Riders can sign up for the e-mail and text messages at http://www.mta.info.
Cate Contino, coordinator for the Straphangers Campaign, said that “2011 will serve as a base line for future years, showing whether significant incidents have gotten worse, better or stayed the same.”
Some 76,000 riders use the service, which alerts them via e-mail or text message to potential problems on the system.
In a statement, the MTA — which has invested more than $2 billion of its capital program to upgrade its subway signals — said it was working to decrease delays.
“We agree with the Straphangers’ assessment that signal issues contribute to delays,” said spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
“That is why signal upgrades remain a top priority and are a crucial part of our capital program.”