A record-breaking 2.38 million riders traveled on the subway Wednesday, June 9, marking the largest number of commuters since the pandemic began, according to officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“We are pleased to see that the subway is breaking pandemic ridership records even as schools move to summer recess to begin what is traditionally a slower period for the subways, said Demetrius Crichlow, executive Vice President of subways for MTA New York City Transit. “This is a clear sign that the normal rhythms of the region are returning.”
Subway ridership has steadily increased during the past months as more and more New Yorkers get their COVID-19 shot and as offices are beckoning back their workers in the five boroughs.
That’s still less than half, or 43 percent, of the average daily ridership pre-pandemic of around 5.5 million 2019, which plummeted by 90% as the coronavirus ravaged the city, with a low of 300,000 daily trips in April 2020.
On April 8, the nation’s largest transit system measured 2 million riders for the first time since the pandemic, followed by 2.24 million on May 7, 2.27 million on May 14, and 2.35 million on May 27.
Transit honchos an overnight shutdown of the subways on May 17 after more than a year, the longest planned service interruption in the subway’s 117-year history.
The latest data for buses shows an average weekday ridership of around 1.17 million, roughly in line with the 1.16 million MTA counted on April 7.
