New York Subway Sets Pandemic Ridership Record

With school back in session and Broadway shows open to the public, subway ridership is surging in New York City, but still well below pre-pandemic levels.

1 minute read

September 20, 2021, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


New York City Subway

Kits Pix / Shutterstock

"Subway ridership was 2.77 million on the first day of school on Monday [Sept. 13] and 2.9 million on Tuesday [Sept. 14], according to official figures — more than any day since NYC went into COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020," reports David Meyer.

Acting MTA Chair Janno Lieber is quoted in the article providing further nuance to the increasing number of riders on the subway. "Lieber said high ridership on weekends, when most people are riding by choice, show that fears of catching COVID-19 from riding mass transit have somewhat subsided," according to Meyer.

Daily ridership was around 5.5 million trips a day in 2019, according to the article. Ridership in the weeks following the March 2020 lockdown fell to less than 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

Additional coverage of the Covid-era ridership records is also available in an article by Robert Pozarycki.

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 in New York Post

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