New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has set a new post-pandemic subway ridership record, reaching a 7-day high of 26.8 million riders between Monday, September 8, and Sunday, September 14. 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.
"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."
Safety Gains and Strong Service Drive Subway Surge
MTA's growing ridership, according to an agency release, 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 experienced a historically safe August, with transit crime down 22.8% compared to August 2024. Last month was the safest August in the subway system in recorded history.
"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," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. "It's simple math: increased safety + top-notch performance = huge transit turnout."
"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 President Demetrius Crichlow said. "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."
MTA Paratransit, Buses, and Railroads Hit Post-Pandemic Highs
Buses saw their 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.
According to the release, 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, September 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.
Commuter railroads also experienced a strong week. Metro-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 has 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.
