Subway and bus ridership for 2024

2024 Subway annual ridership rose to 1,195 million, reflecting a 3.7% year-over-year increase and reaching 70% of pre-pandemic levels. Average weekday subway ridership grew by 3% to 3.376 million, which was at 68% of pre-pandemic levels. Weekend ridership experienced stronger growth, climbing 4.3% annually to an average of 4.42 million, equaling 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Bus ridership in 2024 declined by 4.2% year-over-year, falling to 409 million annual rides. The decrease has been attributed to a rise in fare evasion and the lack of ridership on five bus routes included in the free bus pilot program for 8 months. Average weekday ridership dropped by 5.2% to 1.29 million, while average weekend ridership decreased by 1.8% to 1.46 million.

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 3.4 million and bus has a daily ridership of 1.3 million, representing 68% and 60%, respectively, of pre-pandemic ridership levels.

Our system includes:

  • 472 subway stations
  • 238 local bus routes, 20 Select Bus Service routes, and 75 express routes in the five boroughs

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 Rockaway Parkway subway station
  • B60, BX18A/B, M116, Q4 and S46/96 fare-free bus routes between September 24, 2023 and August 31, 2024

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

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

2024

3,735,571

2,456,514

1,963,003

4,419,517

1,194,866,357

Top 10 busiest subway stations in 2024

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

57,743,486

2

Grand Central-42 St

S, 4, 5, 6, 7

33,496,874

3

34 St-Herald Sq

B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, W

25,012,549

4

14 St-Union Sq

L, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6

22,811,597

5

Fulton St

A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4, 5

19,221,396

6

34 St-Penn Station

A, C, E

18,393,456

7

59 St-Columbus Circle

A, C, B, D, 1

16,884,912

8

34 St-Penn Station

1, 2, 3

16,373,975

9

74 St-Broadway/Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Av

E, F, M, R, 7

15,086,001

10

Flushing-Main St

7

14,592,853

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 St      station is combined with the 8 Av   station.

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.

Summary of bus ridership (New York City Transit)

Year

Average weekday

Average Saturday

Average Sunday

Average weekend

Annual total

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

2024

1,017,160

654,368

523,612

1,177,980

323,904,712

Summary of bus ridership (MTA Bus Company)

Year

Average weekday

Average Saturday

Average Sunday

Average weekend

Annual total

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

2024

273,133

160,966

121,203

282,169

85,129,055

Top 10 busiest routes by ridership in 2024

Rank

Route

Borough

Ridership

1

M15 Local/SBS

Manhattan

11,152,909

2

Q58

Queens

7,189,253

3

B6

Brooklyn

5,500,873

4

Q27

Queens

5,480,039

5

B82 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

5,211,104

6

B46 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

5,103,274

7

M14 Local/SBS

Manhattan

4,977,986

8

B44 Local/SBS

Brooklyn

4,764,508

9

Bx12 Local/SBS

Bronx

4,537,844

10

B41

Brooklyn

4,445,280

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 bus ridership data for New York City Transit and MTA Bus Company.