A newly-minted Brooklynite on his way to surf the Rockaways was surprised to learn he was the New York City Subway system’s billionth rider of the year on Tuesday.
“This has been a crazy detour,” Zayd Nubani, 28, told reporters, covered in confetti and holding a $100 OMNY card gifted him by MTA’s chief customer officer, Shanifa Rieara, moments before.
“[I was] going to surf the nor’easter today — didn’t expect this to happen,” he added. “[I’m] super happy to be the billionth.”
Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Daily News
MTA Chief Customer Officer Shannifah Rieara (center) and Chairman Janno Lieber (left) present Zayd Nubani, 28 (right) with $100 in free subway and bus rides as confetti falls in the Lafayette Ave. station in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Nubani was given the reward as a prize for being the subway system’s billionth rider of the year. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Daily News)
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Nubani told the Daily News he’s lived in New York for nearly four years. The Greenpoint resident said he regularly takes the G train to the L train where he works in the fashion industry — and regularly rides the A train to the Rockaways to surf.
“Honestly, I won’t live anywhere else in the States, because there’s nowhere that has as good public transportation,” he said.
In recent years, the MTA has celebrated its billionth yearly rider as a benchmark of the system’s comeback from the pandemic lockdown closures of 2020 and 2021.
“This is one of the best markers for charting New York City’s comeback,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said. “Every year we’re hitting it earlier and earlier.”
Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Daily News
Confetti is seen on the floor of the Lafayette Ave. C train station in Brooklyn after NYC Transit celebrated the year’s billionth subway rider. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Daily News)
In 2022, the system’s billionth rider spun the turnstile in late December. In 2023 and 2024, the billionth rider came in November.
“Here we are, 2025, we got to that milestone in October — a great sign,” Lieber said.
In 2019, the year before the pandemic lockdown, people rode the subway nearly 1.7 billion times.
