NEW YORK – In September the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's New York City Transit subway broke the previous single-day ridership record five times in the month.
The MTA says 6,106,694 passengers rode the subway Sept. 23, making it the highest ridership ever since daily figures were first recorded in 1985. Four other September days also saw more than 6 million riders, and the 149 million customers over the month were more than in any other September in more than 60 years.
“This is a phenomenal achievement for a system that carried 3.6 million daily customers just 20 years ago. As ridership increases, the MTA Capital Program is vital to fund new subway cars, higher-capacity signal systems and improved stations to meet our customers’ growing needs and rising expectations,” says MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast.
Subway ridership has grown steadily in recent years, approaching levels last seen during the World War II era when the subway network included more elevated lines, many customers were counted twice as they transferred between different systems, and far fewer New Yorkers owned cars. The previous ridership record of 5,987,595 was set Oct. 24, 2013. The five record-breaking dates in September were:
- Sept. 23, with 6,106,694 riders
- Sept. 18, with 6,094,684 riders
- Sept. 19, with 6,073,580 riders
- Sept. 17, with 6,051,863 riders
- Sept. 10, with 6,012,270 riders
Record-breaking ridership was recorded on September weekends as well. Fueled by ridership generated by the People’s Climate March, 2,953,948 passengers rode the subway on Sunday, Sept. 21. This was the highest Sunday ridership since daily records began in 1985 and likely the highest since the late 1940s.