It was 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday during the height of the morning rush on the nation’s busiest subway. Suddenly, power went out at one station in Brooklyn, but that lone failure triggered a meltdown that crippled service across New York City, stranding countless commuters whose plans for the day were derailed.

One woman never made it to housing court and now faces eviction. Another missed a doctor appointment made months earlier. A graphic designer lost $100 in wages. A computer technician paid more than $50 for an Uber car to make a meeting. A lawyer was late for a sentencing. A pastry chef who needs every hour of work he can scrounge lost an hour and a half of pay. A psychoanalyst never made it to her session with a patient. Neither did her patient.

These are the very real human costs, financial and otherwise, of a single subway disruption — just one painful delay in what has become a season of transit misery. On this day, like so many others, New Yorkers missed job interviews, medical appointments and other basic responsibilities of daily life. They waited endlessly on platforms for trains that never came. They crammed into overstuffed buses. They emailed apologies to bosses and clients.

For many riders, the subway is failing at its fundamental task — getting people where they need to be when they need to be there.