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12/29/2022
MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) this week recorded 1 billion subway riders for 2022, the first time agency reached that annual ridership mark since 2019.
NYCT's subway system carried 640 million people in 2020 and 760 million in 2021. In 2019, the system carried 1.7 billion riders.
"Hitting this milestone, 1 billion subway riders in 2022, demonstrates again how essential mass transit is to New York City's economy and continued recovery from the pandemic," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a press release.
Average daily subway ridership is hovering at nearly 60% of 2019's pre-pandemic levels, MTA officials said. Subway ridership climbed 36.8% in October compared with data from the same month in 2021.
The MTA's OMNY fare-payment system also experienced usage growth in 2022 with more than 425 million taps. The increase in subway rider market share for OMNY follows the introduction of the "Lucky 13" fare-capping program, the rollout of OMNY for the MTA's Reduced-Fare customers, and the continued expansion of OMNY cards in retail locations, MTA officials.