Subways Recorded 4.18 Million Paid Rides on Wednesday, Sept. 20, Surpassing Previous Post-Pandemic High Set on Tuesday, Sept. 19
LIRR Sets New Post-Pandemic Record with 242,202 Paid Rides on Wednesday, Sept. 20; Metro-North Set Post-Pandemic High on Tuesday, Sept. 19, with 224,426 Paid Rides
OMNY Recorded 2.3 Million Taps Systemwide on Consecutive Days; OMNY Subway Taps Reach 1.9 Million on Consecutive Days
Access-A-Ride Paratransit Service Sets an All-Time Record For a Single Week With More Than 192,000 Trips Booked Trips
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the New York City Subway recorded its highest post-pandemic single-day total for paid rides on consecutive days. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, subways recorded 4,179,902 paid rides, surpassing the previous post-pandemic high of 4,144,828 set just a day before, on Sept. 19. This is the fourth time in the last two weeks that subway ridership has surpassed the 4 million mark. During the first full week of school in New York City, there were more than 4 million paid entries into the system on Tuesday, Sept. 12 and Thursday, Sept. 14.
“We made historic investments in the MTA that have delivered more service and expanded access to transit,” Governor Hochul said. “I am proud to see another record-breaking week on our subways and railways as New Yorkers continue to come back to the system.”
The commuter railroads also saw post-pandemic highs. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) set a post-pandemic record on Wednesday, carrying 242,202 riders on Wednesday, Sept. 20, surpassing the previous high set on June 21, 2023. The LIRR carried more than 200,000 riders eight straight days starting last Monday.
Metro-North Railroad set its post-pandemic record on Tuesday, Sept. 19, carrying 224,426 riders. This surpassed the previous total set on June 20 when Metro-North carried 224,371 riders. In addition to the overall post-pandemic high, this week Metro-North celebrated its highest ridership on a Monday since the pandemic with 192,103 paid rides.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “For the second day in a row we are hitting new records. This is where we wanted to be, coming off the summer, seeing things move very much in the right direction. The MTA is firing on all cylinders, and more important, New Yorkers are getting back to their normal lives. This is a great sign for the region.”
MTA New York City Transit President Richard Davey said, “Customers have been telling us they value faster, cleaner, safer service, and that’s been our obsession the last 18 months. We’re thrilled to continue to break post-pandemic ridership records by focusing on what our customers want.”
MTA Metro-North Railroad President and Long Island Rail Road Interim President Catherine Rinaldi said, “These records pick up the momentum we saw heading into July, with 200,000 weekday riders becoming the norm for both railroads. The expansion of CityTicket, the introduction of the Far Rockaway Ticket, and the trend toward increased return to the office after Labor Day all seem to have had a positive impact on ridership. These great numbers would not be possible without the efforts made by the LIRR and Metro-North workforce, who keep people moving safely every day.”
New York City Transit’s Access-A-Ride paratransit service set an all-time record for booked trips in a single week last week with more than 192,000. The previous record, set in March 2020, was 191,000 trips. The record comes as Access-A-Ride has made booking trips easier than ever, with customers now able to do so online. Customers can learn more at new.mta.info/myaar. In addition to making trips easier to book, the E-Hail on-demand pilot offers Access-A-Ride customers the opportunity to book trips in real-time through existing taxi or for-hire vehicle service.
MTA Vice President for Paratransit Chris Pangilinan said, “This record is a vote of confidence in the improvements we have made and continue to make at Access-A-Ride. This year we have looked at ways to make booking trips easier by being able to book online and also improved same-day travel through our expansion of the e-hail pilot. We will continue to focus on ways to further enhance the customer experience as we now set our sights on setting even further records.”
So far this week, Access-A-Ride has recorded 141,416 scheduled trips, with at least 30,000 scheduled trips per day the past three weekdays.
OMNY, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) contactless payment system, also enjoyed records on consecutive days. On Wednesday, there were 2.32 million taps systemwide. This is the second time OMNY taps hit 2.3 million taps in a single day, the first coming a day before on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
There were more than 1.93 million taps into the subway system on Wednesday, a record that comes just a day after subway taps hit the 1.9 million-mark in a single day for the first time. OMNY market share of paid subway rides continues to be at or above 45 percent since the MTA updated its fare-capping schedule on Aug. 20.
New York City bus paid ridership continues to trend upward. On Thursday, Sept. 14, buses surpassed the 1.5 million paid ride mark for the first time since May 17, 2023. Last week, nearly 9 million people rode the bus, with total ridership up approximately 12 percent last week.