The New York City subway system carried 4.56 million riders on Thursday, transit officials said.
“Busiest day on the subway since the onset of COVID,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber told reporters Friday.
“It’s a big day when we hit these new records,” Lieber said. “Bringing people back to transit has been the mission of a lifetime, because we knew how much it was connected to the revival of New York.”
Thursday’s numbers indicate the subway is nearly back to its ridership levels from right before the lockdown: The last time subway ridership was higher was March 1, 2020, when the seven-day rolling average was 4.57 million riders per day.
“With significant progress in safety and reliability this year, it’s no surprise that we are breaking yet another ridership record on the subway,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement.
But ridership still lags behind 2019 numbers, when it was not uncommon to have more than 5 million daily straphangers riding the rails.
Ridership plummeted during the initial outbreak of COVID, as New Yorkers sheltered in their homes and the MTA ended 24-hour subway service to better facilitate cleaning.
Round-the-clock subway service resumed in May 2021, but the agency initially struggled to regain pre-COVID ridership as many New Yorkers continued to work remotely.
Ridership benchmarks have been trending upward recently, though, with the system reaching its billionth annual ride earlier each successive year.
The billionth rider of 2025 — a young Brooklynite on his way to the Rockaways to surf during a nor’easter — was celebrated last week.
