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Fun Facts And Graphs About 2011 Subway Ridership
By
Garth Johnston
Published Apr 10, 2012
Modified Apr 10, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Apr 10, 2012
Modified Apr 10, 2012
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Besides telling us that there were 1.6 billion subway rides in 2011, the latest data dump from the MTA has a lot more information on how New Yorkers ride the subway. Here are five stats (beyond the incredible popularity of Williamsburg we already mentioned) that caught our eye:
The Racino Is Big: If there was any question that the Aqueduct Racino was big, just look at the subway stats. Last year the Aquaduct Racetrack station, which is only open on race days, saw 29,644 riders, making it the least used station in the system. This year it saw 54,183! And the Racino only opened in October. Further, the Aqueduct/North Conduit Avenue station was up 99 percent, from 238,000 to 474,915!
Rockaway Has Room For Riders: Despite the bump from the Racino, the Racetrack is still the least used stop in the system. But not by much. Beach 105 St. is barely ahead of it with 80,580 riders last year. And Broad Channel was barely ahead of that with 88,837 riders (the next least used stations are Beach 36 St., Beach 98 St. and Beach 44 St.). Broad Channel we get, but wasn't last year supposed to be the summer of Rockaway? How was everyone getting out there?
The G Extension Must Be Doing Something Right: Y'know, there just might be something with all that "Save the G Extension" talk. Take, for instance, the Church Avenue stop. Its annual ridership jumped this year from the 157th most popular stop to the 144th, with a 10.2 percent growth in riders from 2,968,167 to 3,271,729. Though yes, the construction at Fort Hamilton probably helped those numbers, too.
It Is Nice To Have The Tram Back: Though it'll be busy again soon enough, thanks to Cornell, the Roosevelt Island F stop got a nice respite this year after a big bump in 2010, when the Tram was out of service. Last year ridership dropped 18 percent (the biggest drop in the system) to 2,114,468, from 2,580,003 in 2010.
Fulton Street Is Busy: Considering the MTA's been doing so much work there, you might have expected lots of people to go as far out of their way as possible to avoid Fulton Street in Manhattan. But they haven't. The station only saw a 1.2 percent dip in ridership last year, making it the 12th busiest station in the system.
Want more stats? The MTA has uploaded the basic data, with historical comparisons, to their website. And as you can see above and below, we've also broken the 421 stops down into graph forms, just because. Enjoy!
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Garth Johnston
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