Suing for Injuries on New York Public Transit: The MTA, NYCTA, and Their Special Notice Rules

Millions of riders board New York City subways, buses, and commuter trains every day. Most trips end without incident. Some do not. A bus driver brakes hard and a standing passenger is thrown into a stanchion. A rider steps into the gap between a subway car and a curved platform. A commuter slips on an unlit, wet staircase at a station. When those injuries are serious, the injured rider has a claim against the public authority that runs the service.

That claim does not follow the ordinary rules of a New York personal injury case. The transit authorities are public corporations created by the Public Authorities Law, and the Legislature has given them short deadlines and strict procedural protections. Miss one of them and a valid case can be dismissed before a jury ever hears it. This page explains who you sue, what you must file, and when.

Who Actually Runs the Service You Were Riding

The first mistake riders make is naming the wrong defendant. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is the parent body. It does not itself operate the subways or city buses. Its operating agencies and subsidiaries do, and each has its own legal identity:

• New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA): operates the subway system and most city bus routes in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Created under Public Authorities Law § 1201.
• Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA): a subsidiary of the NYCTA that operates most bus routes in Manhattan and the Bronx. Created under Public Authorities Law § 1203-a.
• MTA Bus Company: an MTA subsidiary operating former private franchise bus routes, mainly in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
• Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Commuter Railroad: MTA subsidiary railroads serving Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and the stations in between.
• Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA): operates the Staten Island Railway.

Courts have repeatedly dismissed the MTA as a defendant in subway and bus cases because the MTA neither operated the vehicle nor maintained the station. Naming only the City of New York is equally fatal; the City does not run the transit system and a notice of claim served on the Comptroller does not count as notice to the NYCTA. Identifying the operating entity is the first task in every transit injury case, and it must be done within the notice period described below.

The Notice of Claim Requirement

Before you may sue the NYCTA, MaBSTOA, the MTA, or MTA Bus Company for a personal injury, you must serve a written notice of claim. Public Authorities Law § 1212(2) imposes this requirement on the NYCTA and its subsidiaries, and Public Authorities Law § 1276(2) imposes it on the MTA and its non-railroad subsidiaries. Both statutes incorporate General Municipal Law § 50-e, which sets the deadline and the content.

The 90-day deadline

General Municipal Law § 50-e(1)(a) requires service of the notice of claim within 90 days after the claim arises. For a personal injury claim, that is 90 days from the date of the accident. The period is measured in calendar days. If the 90th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, General Construction Law § 25-a carries the deadline to the next business day, but no lawyer should plan on using that cushion.

What the notice must say

General Municipal Law § 50-e(2) requires the notice to be in writing, sworn to by or on behalf of the claimant, and to state:

1. The name and post-office address of the claimant and of the claimant's attorney, if any.
2. The nature of the claim.
3. The time when, the place where, and the manner in which the claim arose.
4. The items of damage or injuries claimed, to the extent then practicable.

Precision matters most on the third item. A notice that says a rider fell "at a subway station in Brooklyn" will be attacked as insufficient. A notice that says the rider fell on the third step from the top of the northbound staircase at the Atlantic Avenue entrance to the Q line platform at approximately 8:15 a.m. gives the authority what the statute is designed to give it: enough information to locate the spot, pull the maintenance records, and investigate while the evidence is fresh. Bus cases require the route number, direction of travel, the bus number if known, and the nearest intersection.

How to serve it

Under General Municipal Law § 50-e(3), the notice must be served by personal delivery or by registered or certified mail on the person designated by law to accept service for the authority. For the NYCTA and MaBSTOA, that is the Law Department of the Transit Authority in Brooklyn. For the MTA, service is made on the authority at its headquarters in Manhattan. We confirm the current designated office before every filing, because service on an unauthorized office, a station agent, or a bus depot is not service at all. For a fuller treatment of service, defects, and amendments, see our page on the New York notice of claim under General Municipal Law § 50-e.

Deadlines by Entity: A Working Table

The notice requirement and the statute of limitations differ depending on which authority you are suing. The table below summarizes the rules for a personal injury claim.

Two points from this table deserve emphasis. First, the MTA's own limitation period under § 1276(2) is one year, shorter than the NYCTA's one year and 90 days under § 1212(2). Second, the railroad subsidiaries are exempt from the notice of claim requirement under § 1276(6), but they carry the shortest suit deadline of all: one year and 30 days. A commuter injured on the LIRR who assumes the general three-year personal injury period applies will lose the case entirely.

Worked Example: A Bus Fall on March 3, 2025

Suppose a rider standing on a MaBSTOA bus in the Bronx is thrown to the floor when the driver brakes violently on March 3, 2025, and fractures a wrist. The timeline runs as follows:

• June 1, 2025: the 90th day after the accident. Because June 1, 2025 is a Sunday, the notice of claim may be served as late as Monday, June 2, 2025. We would serve it weeks earlier.
• Within 90 days after the notice is served: MaBSTOA may demand an examination of the claimant under General Municipal Law § 50-h. It nearly always does.
• 30 days after service of the notice: the earliest date suit may be commenced under Public Authorities Law § 1212(1), which requires that at least 30 days elapse and that the authority has neglected or refused to adjust the claim.
• June 1, 2026: one year and 90 days after the accident. The summons and complaint must be filed by this date.

Now change one fact. Suppose the same fall happened on an MTA Bus Company route in Queens. The notice deadline is unchanged, but the suit deadline under § 1276(2) becomes March 3, 2026. Suppose instead the rider was thrown while standing on a Metro-North train. No notice of claim is required, but suit must be commenced by April 2, 2026. The identity of the operator changes the last day to sue by nearly two months in each direction.

The Section 50-h Examination

General Municipal Law § 50-h permits the authority to examine the claimant under oath about the accident and the injuries before any lawsuit is filed. The authority must serve its demand within 90 days after the notice of claim is served, and the examination must be held within 90 days after the demand unless the claimant agrees to a later date. If the authority demands the hearing and the claimant fails to appear, § 50-h(5) bars the claimant from commencing suit until the examination is held.

The 50-h hearing is a deposition in everything but name. The authority's attorney will ask what you were holding, where you were looking, whether you had been drinking, what the driver did, and what you told the emergency room. The transcript will be used against you at trial. We prepare clients for the hearing the same way we prepare them for a deposition, and we attend and object where appropriate.

When the 90 Days Have Already Passed

A late notice is not always the end of the case. General Municipal Law § 50-e(5) allows a court to grant leave to serve a late notice of claim, provided the application is made before the statute of limitations expires. For an NYCTA case, that means the motion must be filed within one year and 90 days of the accident; for an MTA case, within one year. The court weighs:

• Whether the authority acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts of the claim within the 90 days or a reasonable time afterward.
• Whether the claimant has a reasonable excuse for the delay.
• Whether the delay substantially prejudiced the authority's ability to defend.
• Whether the claimant was an infant or was physically or mentally incapacitated.

Actual knowledge is the most important factor. Transit accidents generate paper: the bus operator's accident report, the train crew's unusual occurrence report, station supervisor logs, and surveillance video. When those records show the authority knew the who, what, where, and when of the accident within the period, courts often excuse the late filing. Ignorance of the 90-day rule, standing alone, is generally not accepted as a reasonable excuse. Medical incapacity, documented by hospital records, is treated more favorably. Claims by children are also tolled under CPLR 208, though the safer course is always to move for leave promptly rather than rely on the toll.

The procedure for a late notice motion is discussed in more detail on our General Municipal Law § 50-e page.

What You Have to Prove Once the Procedure Is Satisfied

Compliance with the notice rules gets you into court. It does not win the case. The NYCTA and its sister agencies are held to a standard of ordinary reasonable care under the circumstances, the same standard applied to any other defendant. The New York Court of Appeals abandoned the older "highest degree of care" standard for common carriers in Bethel v. New York City Transit Authority, 92 N.Y.2d 348 (1998). The substantive rules that follow depend on the type of accident.

Sudden stops and jerks on buses

Buses stop and start constantly, and the law does not make the authority liable for every lurch. Under Urquhart v. New York City Transit Authority, 85 N.Y.2d 828 (1995), a standing passenger must show that the stop was "unusual and violent" and of a different class than the jerks and jolts ordinarily experienced in city bus travel. A plaintiff's own description that the stop was "sudden" or "hard" is not enough by itself. Evidence that other passengers fell, that the driver was speeding or distracted, or that the bus struck another vehicle usually carries the point.

Platform gaps, stairs, and station conditions

Station cases are premises liability cases. The rider must show a dangerous condition that the authority created or had actual or constructive notice of, and that the condition caused the fall. Constructive notice requires proof that the condition was visible and existed long enough that employees should have discovered and fixed it. Station cleaning schedules, work orders, and prior complaint records are the core of discovery.

Train strikes and door injuries

Cases involving riders struck by trains or caught in closing doors turn on the conduct of the operator and conductor: whether the operator saw or should have seen the person in time to stop, and whether the conductor confirmed the doorway was clear before closing. These cases frequently involve event recorder data and platform video that the authority holds and that can be overwritten within weeks. Early demands to preserve that evidence are part of our standard intake.

Bus stop placement and boarding

A bus that stops short of the curb and discharges a passenger into a pothole, or that stops where the passenger must step over a snowbank, may expose the authority to liability for failing to provide a reasonably safe place to alight. The claim depends on whether the driver had a safer option available.

Practical Steps in the First Two Weeks

1. Get the bus number, route, and direction, or the train line, car number, and station. Photograph the vehicle number if you can.
2. Ask the operator or station agent to file an accident report, and note the employee's name or badge number.
3. Photograph the condition that caused the fall before it is cleaned or repaired.
4. Seek medical treatment the same day, and tell the provider exactly how the injury happened.
5. Retain counsel early enough to identify the correct entity and serve the notice of claim with time to spare.

You can contact the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin by phone at 212-233-1233 or by email at [email protected].