MTA holiday transit service: NYC holiday schedules

MTA holiday transit service plans for the 2025 Christmas and New Year period have been published, covering the city’s subways, buses, paratransit, and commuter railroads. Most agencies will shift to weekend or holiday timetables, while New Year’s Eve includes extra service on selected routes, as outlined in an MTA press release.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

MTA holiday transit service on the NYC Subway

For the New York City Subway holiday schedule, the key dates follow familiar patterns. Christmas Eve (Wednesday 24 December) runs on a regular weekday timetable. On Christmas Day (Thursday 25 December), service switches to a Sunday schedule.

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New Year’s Eve (Wednesday 31 December) keeps regular weekday service, but adds more trains in the evening and after midnight on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, C, D, G, N, Q, and R lines, along with the 42 Street Shuttle. A trains will run express until 2:30 am. On New Year’s Day (Thursday 1 January), the subway returns to Sunday service.

New York City Buses holiday schedule and diversions

The New York City Buses holiday schedule is split by borough and, in Queens, by route group. On Christmas Eve, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and some parts of Queens move to reduced weekday service, while other Queens routes stay on a regular weekday schedule. Staten Island buses also operate on a weekday schedule.

Christmas Day brings Sunday service in all five boroughs.

The New Year’s Eve plan is similar. Most routes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, and selected routes in Queens, will run reduced weekday service; other Queens routes keep a regular weekday schedule. Staten Island buses are set to operate on a weekday, school-closed schedule. Some Midtown routes may be diverted because of road closures. New Year’s Day is scheduled for Sunday service across all boroughs.

Certain express and limited routes continue to run regular weekday schedules on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, including B100, B103, BM1–BM5 and all BXM routes.

Access-A-Ride will operate 24 hours a day throughout the holiday period, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Customers are advised to allow extra time because holiday traffic and possible pick-up or drop-off changes may occur, particularly around Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

LIRR and Metro-North Railroad holiday timetables

The Long Island Rail Road keeps regular weekday service on Christmas Eve and moves to Sunday service on Christmas Day. On New Year’s Eve, eleven additional trains will run from early evening on the Babylon, Montauk, Ronkonkoma, Port Jefferson and Port Washington branches to Penn Station and Grand Central Madison; passengers can also consult the Long Island Rail Road PDF timetables for the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day service changes. On New Year’s Day, twelve additional overnight trains are scheduled for passengers returning to Long Island, while Sunday service operates throughout the day.

Metro-North Railroad will adjust timetables across its network during the Christmas and New Year weeks. On several weekdays around the holidays, East of Hudson lines will operate on Friday schedules, with additional mid-day and mid-afternoon services.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day will generally follow hourly or weekend patterns, and extra late-evening and post-midnight trains are planned for New Year’s Eve. West of Hudson lines will largely follow regular weekday schedules, switching to weekend service on the public holidays.

Passengers planning holiday travel are encouraged to review schedules in advance and allow additional time, especially on New Year’s Eve. A summary of the same service plan was also reported by Railway-News.

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