New York City Subway Hits New Ridership Milestone

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the New York City subway recorded 2,744,462 paid rides on Saturday, October 28, the highest weekend day total since 2020.

The record high significantly exceeded the previous Saturday and weekend day high that was set on Dec. 10, 2022, when approximately 2.6 million people took the subway. New York City Buses also saw a strong Saturday, recording over 852,000 paid rides — a 7.3% improvement to the previous Saturday.

“My administration has made historic investments in safety and increased service to attract more riders back to the MTA,” said Gov. Hochul. “We are continuing to break ridership records on our subways, railroads, and buses as New Yorkers proudly keep coming back to the system.”

The Subways Record Ridership

The record subway Saturday was driven by taps into the system — 55.2% of all rides were tap-and-go customers, a single-day record. OMNY, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) contactless fare payment method, accounts overall for nearly half of all paid subway rides.

The ridership and OMNY records came two days before the MTA would activate OMNY customer vending machines in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, allowing riders to use cash at the vending machines, as well as credit, debit cards, and digital wallets.

Those cards provide another way to take advantage of OMNY’s financial flexibility to pay-as-you-go and never spend more than $34 in seven days.