NEW YORK — Subway ridership in New York City has reached its strongest levels since before the pandemic, topping four million riders on every weekday last week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced.
From Sept. 8 to Sept. 14, more than 26.8 million people rode the subway, marking the busiest seven-day stretch since March 2020. Daily figures climbed to 4.1 million on Monday, 4.44 million on Tuesday, 4.48 million on Wednesday, 4.51 million on Thursday, and 4.2 million on Friday, according to the MTA.
Governor Kathy Hochul said the milestone reflects renewed confidence in public transit. “The subway is New York City’s lifeblood, and when ridership is growing, it means more New Yorkers are going to work, school, and everything this city has to offer,” Hochul said.
Transit leaders tied the surge to performance and safety gains. Subway weekday on-time performance in August reached 85.2 percent, the best August in a decade. Transit crime fell nearly 23 percent compared with August 2024, making last month the safest August in recorded history, according to the MTA.
“This one’s for the record books — MTA’s busiest week across almost all agencies since before the pandemic,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said. “It’s simple math: increased safety plus top-notch performance equals huge transit turnout.”
Other parts of the system also posted strong results. New York City buses recorded 9.3 million rides for the week, the third-highest total since the pandemic. Access-A-Ride paratransit service set records with 46,875 trips on Sept. 10 and a monthly high in August. Paratransit ridership now runs at 140 percent of pre-pandemic levels, regularly topping 40,000 weekday trips, according to the MTA.
Commuter railroads are also seeing steady recovery. Metro-North carried an average of 238,000 weekday riders, its highest five-day average since March 2020. The Long Island Rail Road averaged 277,000 weekday riders last week, continuing gains that began in late summer. Both railroads report on-time performance near 97 percent, according to MTA.
The MTA said contactless fare payments are more popular than ever, with 81 percent of riders tapping phones, cards, or OMNY to enter the system — up from 67 percent in March.
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Born in Harrisburg, Pa., Houghton was raised in northern Pennsylvania. His father was a sports editor and reporter, so he was immersed in sports as a child. Houghton graduated from Pace University in 2000 with a journalism and digital major and a studio art minor.
