Governor Hochul Announces Record 7-Day Subway Ridership With 26.8 Million Rides Last Week

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) set a new post-pandemic subway ridership record, setting a new 7-day high of 26.8 million riders traveling between Monday, Sept. 8 and Sunday, Sept. 14. Additionally, the subway recorded more than four million riders every weekday - a first since the COVID-19 pandemic. New York City Transit recorded 4.1 million riders on the subway on Monday; 4.44 million on Tuesday; 4.48 million on Wednesday; 4.51 million on Thursday; and 4.2 million riders on Friday. This ridership milestone underscores customer confidence in public transit as the best way to get around the region as the MTA continues to deliver the best service in over a decade, with record on-time performance and enhanced reliability.

"The subway is New York City's lifeblood, and when ridership is growing, it means even more New Yorkers are going to work, to school, to shop, and to take advantage of everything this city has to offer," Governor Hochul said. "We've made real progress in the subway system delivering more service with increased reliability and by improving safety and reducing crime. This is what New Yorkers expect and deserve: a safe and reliable ride. By continuing to improve what matters to riders, I look forward to even more record weeks to come."

Growing ridership comes on the heels of strong performance and improving safety. Subway weekday on-time performance in August was 85.2%, matching the previous high set in May of this year. It was also the best August in 10 years. The subway had a historically safe August, with transit crime down 22.8% from August of 2024. Last month was the safest August in the subway system in recorded history.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, "Back to school always brings a bump in ridership, but this one's for the record books - MTA's busiest week across almost all agencies since before the pandemic. It's simple math: increased safety + top notch performance = huge transit turnout."

New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said, "With a new and improved bus network in Queens and historic subway on-time performance and Paratransit ridership in August, it's no surprise we're already breaking records in September. New York City Transit will continue to deliver safe, reliable, and fast service and I look forward to bringing this incredible momentum into the fall."

Buses saw its third highest weekly ridership since the pandemic with 9.3 million rides, up 2.7% compared to 2024. The highest week was the week of September 12, 2022, with 100,000 more riders.

Access-a-Ride paratransit service continues to experience historic ridership growth, setting a milestone of the highest monthly total ridership of all time in August and a new single-day record on Wednesday, Sept. 10, with 46,875 scheduled trips. Paratransit leads the MTA in post-pandemic ridership return, with 2025 ridership at 140% of its pre-pandemic peak. Access-A-Ride now regularly exceeds 40,000 scheduled weekday trips, with ridership the size of entire bus networks of cities such as Charlotte, Cincinnati and Kansas City.

It has also been a strong week for the commuter railroads. TMetro-North Railroad carried an average of 237,994 riders for the workweek, the highest 5-day average since March 2020. The Long Island Rail Road reached its highest 5-day ridership average since the pandemic the week of August 25, with an average of 288,459 riders,and continued to see strong ridership this past workweek with an average of 277, 435 riders. Additionally, on-time performance for both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North have consistently been at or near 97% in 2025.

The first time the MTA reached four million subway riders in a single day during the non-school summer season since the start of the pandemic was on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. These milestones reaffirm the MTA's path towards a record-breaking year in ridership and on-time performance.

On top of the ridership increases, tap-and-go fare payment continues to grow in popularity with 81percent of riders deciding to tap their phones, contactless debit/credit cards, or OMNY cards to pay their fares during the week of Sept. 8, up from 67 percent in March 2025.

Contact the Governor's Press Office