More than 3 million New Yorkers still traveled on the subways on the same day a gunman opened fire at fellow passengers on an N train in Brooklyn, although ridership numbers dipped slightly in the aftermath of the shocking attack.
On Tuesday, April 12, when Frank James allegedly shot at riders injuring at least 23, a total of 3,051,726 people took the subway, according to MTA counts.
That’s down 311,710 people from Tuesday last week, or about a 10% decrease.
While it didn’t mark a huge drop, that difference is still slightly more than the number of people that the entire subway system of Boston carries each day, according to the latest counts by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
To accommodate the NYPD’s investigation at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park where the attack happened, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority partially suspended service that day on the D, N, and R lines, and fully cut service on the B and W lines.
The subway passenger numbers in the Big Apple recovered slightly Wednesday to 3.15 million, according to MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan, which was still down 167,928 riders from the same day a week before.
Brooklyn subway ridership rose some 2% since Tuesday, said Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairperson and CEO Janno Lieber during a press conference Thursday in Willets Point, Queens.
“We’re starting to see ridership come back even after the incredibly disturbing news that we all saw this week,” Lieber told reporters.
The shooting that injured at least 23 people, including 10 with gunshot wounds, came as the MTA is trying to lure back riders to its system amid still-lower passenger numbers compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The weekday numbers have consistently been above 3 million riders for weeks, and around 56-69% compared to pre-COVID figures.
Last week the agency logged 28 million riders, the best weekly period of the year so far, Lieber said.
On April 8, the agency also saw its first day with one million trips paid through its new tap fare system known as OMNY.
