Subway and bus ridership for 2023

2023 ridership reflects continued growth

In 2023, subway ridership posted a 14% annual increase to 1.15 billion annual paid rides, hitting the billion-ride milestone six weeks earlier than in 2022.

Ridership patterns have shifted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with discretionary travel becoming more popular than commutation travel. Increased telecommuting and more flexible work-from-home policies have made traditional five-day commuting less common. Commutation ridership is now highest on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Overall subway ridership is now at 68% of 2019 levels. At 77%, weekend recovery is higher than the weekday recovery of 66%. Paid ridership has also benefited from a slightly lower fare evasion rate in 2023, as the MTA continues to combat subway fare evasion.

Bus ridership experienced a modest annual increase of 0.3% to 426 million rides, 63% of the 2019 level. This was slower than the 11% growth observed in 2022. Significant factors contributing to slower growth include rising bus fare evasion and the introduction of a fare-free pilot program on five bus routes starting in September 2023.

Overview of New York City’s transit system

We operate the largest public transportation agency in North America and one of the largest in the world. 

The subway has a daily ridership of approximately 3.6 million and buses have a daily ridership of 1.4 million, representing 68% and 63%, respectively, of pre-pandemic ridership levels.

Our system includes:

  • 472 subway stations
  • 238 local bus routes
  • 20 Select Bus Service routes
  • 75 express routes

How we calculate ridership

Subways

We include:

  • All passengers who enter the subway system, including passengers who transfer from buses

We do not include:

  • Employees
  • Passengers who exit the subway
  • Passengers who transfer from other subway lines, with the exception of out-of-system transfers, where you use your MetroCard or OMNY to make the transfer

Buses

We include:

  • All passengers who board buses using a valid MetroCard, OMNY, cash, transfer, Select Bus Service ticket, or student MetroCard

We do not include:

  • Employees
  • Non-revenue passengers (such as children under 44 inches tall traveling with an adult)
  • B42 riders boarding inside the paid zone of the Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy subway station
  • B60, Bx18A/B, M116, Q4, and S46/96 riders starting September 24, 2023, when these routes became fare-free

Average weekday, Saturday, and Sunday ridership includes every weekday, Saturday, and Sunday in the year, except major holidays and days when the subway system was closed or operated fare-free.

Average weekend ridership is the two-day sum of average Saturday plus average Sunday ridership. Ridership on major holidays (New Year’s Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) is included only in the annual total.

Summary of subway ridership

Year

Average weekday

Average Saturday

Average Sunday

Average weekend

Annual total

2018

5,437,586

3,046,289

2,392,658

5,438,947

1,680,060,402

2019

5,493,875

3,087,043

2,407,152

5,494,195

1,697,787,002

2020

2,040,580

1,203,072

932,240

2,135,312

639,541,029

2021

2,369,655

1,639,067

1,249,552

2,888,620

759,976,721

2022

3,189,904

2,067,734

1,635,751

3,703,485

1,013,425,465

2023

3,625,326

2,356,521

1,880,758

4,237,280

1,151,998,158

Top 10 busiest subway stations in 2023

Rank

Station/complex

Lines

Ridership

1

Times Sq-42 St/Port Authority Bus Terminal

A/C/E/B/D/F/M/N/Q/R/W/S/1/2/3/7

54,266,441

2

Grand Central-42 St

S/4/5/6/7

30,517,475

3

34 St-Herald Sq

B/D/F/M/N/Q/R/W

23,680,977

4

14 St-Union Sq

L/N/Q/R/W/4/5/6

21,527,757

4

Fulton St

A/C/J/Z/2/3/4/5

17,887,203

6

34 St-Penn Station

A/C/E

16,974,543

7

59 St-Columbus Circle

A/C/B/D/1

15,842,348

8

34 St-Penn Station

1/2/3

15,224,047

9

Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av/74 St-Broadway

E/F/M/R/7

14,348,691

10

Flushing-Main St

7

13,876,213

About our subway data

We have 472 stations, the largest number of public transit subway stations of any system in the world. Note that our table lists 424 stations. We combined ridership data for station complexes, where stations are connected by transfer passageways. (We can't accurately allocate ridership to each station in a complex.) For example, the 14 St  station is combined with the 8 Av  station.

The station names and lines stopping at each station reflect service at the end of 2023.

In our spreadsheet, stations are listed alphabetically by borough, and the rankings are by 2023 ridership. The “systemwide adjustment” accounts for miscellaneous ridership and other adjustments that are not allocated by station.

In our tables, stations that were temporarily closed (either fully or partially) are denoted with asterisks; go to the “Closures” tab for the closure dates. For these stations, zero ridership was included in the averages for any days when the station was closed, except for the days when the entire subway was closed or fare-free.

Summary of bus ridership (New York City Transit)

Year

Average weekday

Average Saturday

Average Sunday

Average weekend

Annual total

2018

1,811,605

1,122,626

868,057

1,990,683

569,361,220

2019

1,770,394

1,108,809

847,931

1,956,740

557,036,504

2020

980,374

671,835

532,002

1,203,837

316,768,454

2021

984,865

646,302

482,090

1,128,392

311,893,583

2022

1,094,415

662,179

523,178

1,185,357

343,092,963

2023

1,082,428

670,755

535,911

1,206,666

340,766,398

Summary of bus ridership (MTA Bus Company)

Year

Average weekday

Average Saturday

Average Sunday

Average weekend

Annual total

2018

392,617

224,751

170,892

395,643

121,448,276

2019

388,075

228,364

171,762

400,126

120,551,580

2020

207,042

132,387

99,713

232,100

65,655,990

2021

228,425

142,112

102,744

244,856

71,431,466

2022

268,124

150,399

113,157

263,556

82,609,386

2023

279,247

159,451

121,069

280,520

86,216,666

Top 10 busiest bus routes by ridership in 2023

Rank

Route

Borough

Ridership

1

M15 Local/SBS

Manhattan

10,468,682

2

Q58

Queens

7,119,884

3

B6

Brooklyn

6,049,383

4

Bx12 Local/SBS

Bronx

5,900,063

5

B82 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

5,647,706

6

B46 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

5,547,520

7

B44 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

5,468,965

8

Q27

Queens

5,414,302

9

B41

Brooklyn

4,759,664

10

Q44

Queens

4,715,292

About our bus data

Local routes begin with one or two letters corresponding to the major borough of operation (B = Brooklyn, Bx = Bronx, M = Manhattan, Q = Queens, S = Staten Island). New York City Transit express routes begin with the letter “X”, except for “SIM” used for express routes established under the Staten Island Express Bus Network Redesign.

MTA Bus express routes begin with “BM” for Brooklyn to Manhattan routes, “BxM” for Bronx to Manhattan routes, and “QM” for Queens to Manhattan routes. In the ridership averages, zero was included for any day during the year on which a given route did not operate, except for the days when the entire bus system was closed or fare-free. In the following tables, certain routes that effectively operate as a single route are combined.

Download our data for New York City Transit and MTA Bus Company.