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- Subway and bus ridership for 2023
2023 ridership reflects continued growth
In 2023, subway ridership posted a 14% annual increase to 1.15 billion annual paid rides, hitting the billion-ride milestone six weeks earlier than in 2022.
Ridership patterns have shifted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with discretionary travel becoming more popular than commutation travel. Increased telecommuting and more flexible work-from-home policies have made traditional five-day commuting less common. Commutation ridership is now highest on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Overall subway ridership is now at 68% of 2019 levels. At 77%, weekend recovery is higher than the weekday recovery of 66%. Paid ridership has also benefited from a slightly lower fare evasion rate in 2023, as the MTA continues to combat subway fare evasion.
Bus ridership experienced a modest annual increase of 0.3% to 426 million rides, 63% of the 2019 level. This was slower than the 11% growth observed in 2022. Significant factors contributing to slower growth include rising bus fare evasion and the introduction of a fare-free pilot program on five bus routes starting in September 2023.
Overview of New York City’s transit system
We operate the largest public transportation agency in North America and one of the largest in the world.
The subway has a daily ridership of approximately 3.6 million and buses have a daily ridership of 1.4 million, representing 68% and 63%, respectively, of pre-pandemic ridership levels.
Our system includes:
- 472 subway stations
- 238 local bus routes
- 20 Select Bus Service routes
- 75 express routes
How we calculate ridership
Subways
We include:
- All passengers who enter the subway system, including passengers who transfer from buses
We do not include:
- Employees
- Passengers who exit the subway
- Passengers who transfer from other subway lines, with the exception of out-of-system transfers, where you use your MetroCard or OMNY to make the transfer
Buses
We include:
- All passengers who board buses using a valid MetroCard, OMNY, cash, transfer, Select Bus Service ticket, or student MetroCard
We do not include:
- Employees
- Non-revenue passengers (such as children under 44 inches tall traveling with an adult)
- B42 riders boarding inside the paid zone of the Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy subway station
- B60, Bx18A/B, M116, Q4, and S46/96 riders starting September 24, 2023, when these routes became fare-free
Average weekday, Saturday, and Sunday ridership includes every weekday, Saturday, and Sunday in the year, except major holidays and days when the subway system was closed or operated fare-free.
Average weekend ridership is the two-day sum of average Saturday plus average Sunday ridership. Ridership on major holidays (New Year’s Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) is included only in the annual total.
Summary of subway ridership
Year | Average weekday | Average Saturday | Average Sunday | Average weekend | Annual total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 5,437,586 | 3,046,289 | 2,392,658 | 5,438,947 | 1,680,060,402 |
2019 | 5,493,875 | 3,087,043 | 2,407,152 | 5,494,195 | 1,697,787,002 |
2020 | 2,040,580 | 1,203,072 | 932,240 | 2,135,312 | 639,541,029 |
2021 | 2,369,655 | 1,639,067 | 1,249,552 | 2,888,620 | 759,976,721 |
2022 | 3,189,904 | 2,067,734 | 1,635,751 | 3,703,485 | 1,013,425,465 |
2023 | 3,625,326 | 2,356,521 | 1,880,758 | 4,237,280 | 1,151,998,158 |
Top 10 busiest subway stations in 2023
Rank | Station/complex | Lines | Ridership |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Times Sq-42 St/Port Authority Bus Terminal | A/C/E/B/D/F/M/N/Q/R/W/S/1/2/3/7 | 54,266,441 |
2 | Grand Central-42 St | S/4/5/6/7 | 30,517,475 |
3 | 34 St-Herald Sq | B/D/F/M/N/Q/R/W | 23,680,977 |
4 | 14 St-Union Sq | L/N/Q/R/W/4/5/6 | 21,527,757 |
4 | Fulton St | A/C/J/Z/2/3/4/5 | 17,887,203 |
6 | 34 St-Penn Station | A/C/E | 16,974,543 |
7 | 59 St-Columbus Circle | A/C/B/D/1 | 15,842,348 |
8 | 34 St-Penn Station | 1/2/3 | 15,224,047 |
9 | Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av/74 St-Broadway | E/F/M/R/7 | 14,348,691 |
10 | Flushing-Main St | 7 | 13,876,213 |
About our subway data
We have 472 stations, the largest number of public transit subway stations of any system in the world. Note that our table lists 424 stations. We combined ridership data for station complexes, where stations are connected by transfer passageways. (We can't accurately allocate ridership to each station in a complex.) For example, the 14 Ststation is combined with the 8 Avstation.
The station names and lines stopping at each station reflect service at the end of 2023.
In our spreadsheet, stations are listed alphabetically by borough, and the rankings are by 2023 ridership. The “systemwide adjustment” accounts for miscellaneous ridership and other adjustments that are not allocated by station.
In our tables, stations that were temporarily closed (either fully or partially) are denoted with asterisks; go to the “Closures” tab for the closure dates. For these stations, zero ridership was included in the averages for any days when the station was closed, except for the days when the entire subway was closed or fare-free.
Download our subway ridership data.
Summary of bus ridership (New York City Transit)
Year | Average weekday | Average Saturday | Average Sunday | Average weekend | Annual total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 1,811,605 | 1,122,626 | 868,057 | 1,990,683 | 569,361,220 |
2019 | 1,770,394 | 1,108,809 | 847,931 | 1,956,740 | 557,036,504 |
2020 | 980,374 | 671,835 | 532,002 | 1,203,837 | 316,768,454 |
2021 | 984,865 | 646,302 | 482,090 | 1,128,392 | 311,893,583 |
2022 | 1,094,415 | 662,179 | 523,178 | 1,185,357 | 343,092,963 |
2023 | 1,082,428 | 670,755 | 535,911 | 1,206,666 | 340,766,398 |
Summary of bus ridership (MTA Bus Company)
Year | Average weekday | Average Saturday | Average Sunday | Average weekend | Annual total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 392,617 | 224,751 | 170,892 | 395,643 | 121,448,276 |
2019 | 388,075 | 228,364 | 171,762 | 400,126 | 120,551,580 |
2020 | 207,042 | 132,387 | 99,713 | 232,100 | 65,655,990 |
2021 | 228,425 | 142,112 | 102,744 | 244,856 | 71,431,466 |
2022 | 268,124 | 150,399 | 113,157 | 263,556 | 82,609,386 |
2023 | 279,247 | 159,451 | 121,069 | 280,520 | 86,216,666 |
Top 10 busiest bus routes by ridership in 2023
Rank | Route | Borough | Ridership |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | M15 Local/SBS | Manhattan | 10,468,682 |
2 | Q58 | Queens | 7,119,884 |
3 | B6 | Brooklyn | 6,049,383 |
4 | Bx12 Local/SBS | Bronx | 5,900,063 |
5 | B82 Local/SBS | Brooklyn | 5,647,706 |
6 | B46 Local/SBS | Brooklyn | 5,547,520 |
7 | B44 Local/SBS | Brooklyn | 5,468,965 |
8 | Q27 | Queens | 5,414,302 |
9 | B41 | Brooklyn | 4,759,664 |
10 | Q44 | Queens | 4,715,292 |
About our bus data
Local routes begin with one or two letters corresponding to the major borough of operation (B = Brooklyn, Bx = Bronx, M = Manhattan, Q = Queens, S = Staten Island). New York City Transit express routes begin with the letter “X”, except for “SIM” used for express routes established under the Staten Island Express Bus Network Redesign.
MTA Bus express routes begin with “BM” for Brooklyn to Manhattan routes, “BxM” for Bronx to Manhattan routes, and “QM” for Queens to Manhattan routes. In the ridership averages, zero was included for any day during the year on which a given route did not operate, except for the days when the entire bus system was closed or fare-free. In the following tables, certain routes that effectively operate as a single route are combined.
Download our data for New York City Transit and MTA Bus Company.
