MTA Announces One Billionth Subway Rider of 2025

One Billion Milestone Achieved Three Weeks Earlier Than Previous Year

Follows Record Ridership in September, Including 13 Back-to-Back Weekdays With Over 4 Million Riders

Best September Subway On Time Performance in Modern History

Transit Crime Down 31% for September 2025 Compared to 2024, Follows Historic Drop in Summer Transit Crime

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View B-Roll of Historic Billionth Entrance Into the Subway for 2025

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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) hit one billion trips on the New York City subway in 2025. The billionth rider was identified as Zayd Nubani of Greenpoint, Brooklyn who tapped into the subway system at the Lafayette Ave Station at 10:40 a.m. Mr. Nubani received a $100 OMNY gift card. This milestone follows a strong September when the subway recorded 13 consecutive weekdays from Wednesday, Sept. 3 through Friday, Sept. 19, with ridership over four million customers each day. The week of Monday, Sept. 8, set a seven-day post pandemic ridership record with a combined 26.8 million passengers.

Since 2022, increasing subway ridership has meant that the MTA has been achieving the billionth rider milestone earlier each year. This year's billionth subway rider comes three weeks earlier than 2024 and nearly three months earlier than 2022. The billionth riders have been recorded on Dec. 27, 2022, Nov. 14, 2023 and Nov. 4, 2024.

This comes as New York City Transit continues to maintain historically high on-time performance (OTP). Subway OTP was 85.0% in September 2025, making it the best September in modern history. This maintains August's 85.1%, which was the best August subway on time performance record in 10 years and follows May's record breaking 85.2% which represents the highest non pandemic-era OTP in modern history.

Subway on time performance was 85.0% in September 2025, making it the best post-pandemic September on record. This follows August's 85.2%, matching the previous high set in May of this year. It was also the best August subway on time performance record in 10 years.

"We keep getting to the one billionth subway rider mark sooner and sooner, and not by accident," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. "Fast, frequent, more accessible service is a powerful incentive, not to mention Governor Hochul's investments in safety, which, over the past year, have improved riders' sense of safety and overall customer satisfaction."

"A big reason why we see increases in each of our Customer Count surveys is from the feedback from our riders and consistent improvements to the overall subway ridership experience," said MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara. "We encourage riders to take the Fall 2025 Customers Count survey, which offers valuable insights on where we can make improvements across all our agencies."

"Hitting milestones like one billion subway rides earlier and earlier each year and continuing to break on-time performance records month after month is a testament to New York City Transit's dedication to safety and service," said New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. "Delivering safe, reliable and efficient trips is what keeps riders coming back and we'll continue to provide service they can count on."

"This has been a crazy detour," said one billionth subway rider Zayd Nubani. "I was going to surf the nor'easter today and didn't expect this to happen. I'm super happy to be the billionth. MTA, you guys are awesome - I ride you every day!"

Crime in the subway was down 31% in September 2025, compared to September 2024. Transit crime also dropped 4.3% from this time last year. Summer 2025 was the safest summer since 2009, with major subway crimes down nearly 10 percent from 2024. Felony assaults were also down every month between June and September when compared with the same time period last year. July and August 2025 were the safest July and August since modern record keeping began in 1995.