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NYC Subway Ridership Was 1.708 Billion Last Year, Highest Since 1949

By

Jen Chung

Published Mar 24, 2014

Modified Mar 24, 2014

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Photograph by She Said Unprintable on Flickr

 

By

Jen Chung

Published Mar 24, 2014

Modified Mar 24, 2014

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The MTA just announced its annual subway ridership stats, and 2013 was a huge year for the subways: "Annual subway ridership of 1.708 billion is now the highest since 1949, and weekday ridership of 5.5 million is the highest since 1950. Weekend subway ridership was 5.8 million and has surpassed the highest ever ridership in 1946." And naturally, the line with the biggest increase was the L!

According to the agency, the L train—also the cleanest train— had 5.3% more riders per weekday (about 6,000 riders): "Ridership increased at every station on the line, including an 8.1% increase at the Bedford Av station. Weekday ridership has increased at Bedford Avenue by more than 50% since 2007. Ninety-eight weekly round trips were added to the L Subway Line Icon line in 2012 and service will be increased again this June."

The G also had a 4.7% increase in riders per weekday (about 2,200), with the biggest growth in Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy. Next up, the F added 4.5% more riders per weekday (about 4,200): "Riders returned to their normal stations following the reopening of the Smith-9th Street station in April 2013, and return to normal service at the Fort Hamilton Pkwy and 15 St-Prospect Park stations. In addition, strong ridership growth continued at the York St station with a 10.7% increase in 2013, reflecting continued development in DUMBO."

There are more factoids in this press release, like how the busiest train station in Brooklyn is Atlantic Av-Barclays—"in total annual and average weekend ridership, even though Jay Street-MetroTech A/C/F/R served more weekday riders. The busiest station in the Bronx was 161st Street-Yankee Stadium B/D/4 and the busiest station in Queens was Flushing-Main Street 7."

Increase in ridership means it's even more important to practice good subway etiquette—let's start with not leaning into other passengers.

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f train

g train

l train

MTA

nyc transit

subway

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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