NYCT set September ridership records on subway

MTA New York City Transit's (NYCT) ridership reached unprecedented milestones in September, breaking the previous single-day ridership record five times in a single month, agency officials announced yesterday.

Newly available figures show 6,106,694 riders took the subway on Sept. 23, making it the highest daily ridership ever since figures were first recorded in 1985. Four other September days also registered more than 6 million passengers, and the 149 million riders for the month were more than in any other September in more than 60 years, according to NYCT. The previous ridership record of 5,987,595 was set on Oct. 24, 2013.

"This is a phenomenal achievement for a system that carried 3.6 million daily customers just 20 years ago," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast in a press release. "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."

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 Sept. 21, the highest Sunday ridership since 1985 and likely the highest since the late 1940s, MTA officials said.

"The trend towards increasing ridership is not expected to slow down. Improved transit services, combined with a growing population and an improved economy, have resulted in the strongest subway ridership growth occurring among discretionary riders and during off-peak times," said NYCT President Carmen Bianco.