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June 28, 2021
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NYC Subway and Long Island Rail Road Again Break Pandemic Ridership RecordsRecords Set on Friday, June 25, With 2.59 Million Subway Riders and 126,700 on LIRR
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that the New York City Subway and Long Island Rail Road broke pandemic-era ridership records for the second consecutive week.
The subway (including the Staten Island Railway) carried 2,585,965 customers on Friday, June 25, the highest ridership since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure surpasses the previous record set a week earlier of 2,576,275 subway + SIR trips on Friday, June 18.
The Long Island Rail Road also broke a record on Friday, June 25, carrying 126,722 customers, the highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and surpassing the previous record, set Monday, June 21, of 123,918.
Combined subway and bus ridership of 3.76 million is 50% of pre-pandemic levels.
“The subway is breaking ridership records on a weekly basis,” said Demetrius Crichlow, Executive Vice President of Subways for MTA New York City Transit. “If there was anyone who wondered what a sustained comeback in subway ridership looks like, we are seeing that clearly every week.”
“Summer is a great time to experience Long Island and obviously the riding public agrees,” said Phil Eng, President of MTA Long Island Rail Road. “Our pandemic record-breaking ridership numbers reaffirms that taking the LIRR is the least-stressful, most convenient way to get to your destination.”
Other current pandemic-era records stand at 1,287,637 riders on New York City buses on Wednesday, June 16; 989,296 vehicles carried on MTA Bridges and Tunnels on Friday, June 18; 104,304 Metro-North customers carried on Friday, June 18; and 24,788 trip reservations made on Access-A-Ride on Wednesday, June 16.
The MTA has undertaken unprecedented cleaning and disinfecting protocols in the year since the pandemic began to ensure that the system is as safe as possible for its customers. The Authority has also rolled out robust public education campaigns and issued millions of masks to its customers. The MTA is hosting public vaccination hubs at Grand Central and Penn Station.
Prior to the pandemic, average weekday ridership totals routinely exceeded 5.5 million in the subway system. That figure fell by 95% to a low of roughly 300,000 daily trips last April as the number of COVID-19 cases peaked in the New York City area. MTA employees continued to provide service for the frontline healthcare professionals and other essential workers who needed to get to work during some of the most difficult days in New York City history.
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