If you're a regular subway rider in many parts of New York City, you don't need a news article to tell you that the subway is, and has been, overcrowded. 

But recently the MTA announced it hasn't been able to run enough trains to keep pace with the growing number of riders each year. 

A little more than 1.75 billion people rode the subway last year, a 12% increase from 2009. 

Federal Transit Authority numbers from the same period show that subway trains ran just under 345.5 million miles in passenger service, down 2%.

So over the last number of years, service has declined 2% while the number of riders has increased over five times that amount. 

And we're supposed to rely on this system every day?

One main problem is the round-the-clock service the subway provides on the City's aging infrastructure. There isn't enough time to repair the system without interrupting crucial transit services.

Installing up to date traffic management systems would increase the number of trains able to run at the same time, but those installations would take decades and cost billions.

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Another problem is that the MTA's fleet of trains isn't large enough to accommodate all the riders.

Except cars undergoing repairs and inspections, "Right now we're using every car that we have," said Peter Cafiero, chief of operations planning for the MTA's NYC Transit division.

There are about 300 new subway cars on the way, but delivery has been delayed. 

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About a thousand more subway cars were allotted for in the MTA's $36 bullion capital plan, but 2015-19 plan remains on shaky ground.

Last week, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast announced the authority is running out of money and that major repair, expansion and improvements will have to cease on June 30th, as that's "as far as we can stretch the money."

So... the MTA is running out of money, yet there are more people than ever paying for the services the MTA is supposed to provide. One of these things doesn't make sense...

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