Subway ridership hits record-high for second straight day
NEW YORK - For the second straight day, ridership on the New York City Subway has broken a pandemic-era record.
According to the MTA, 2.4 million people rode the subway on June 10, the largest number since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
The milestone extends a string of previous records set over the last several weeks, including 2.38 million riders on June 9, 2.35 million riders on May 27, and 2.27 million riders on May 14.
"As the subway comes back, New York City comes back - and with noticeably more people out and about our ridership continues to trend towards its full recovery," said Demetrius Crichlow, Executive Vice President of Subways for MTA New York City Transit. "We hope to keep this momentum going and hit that 2.5 million mark soon."
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Prior to the pandemic, the average weekday ridership on the subway routinely exceeded 5.5 million people.
However, while ridership numbers continue to rise, crime has followed suit, with crimes in the subway system seeing an enormous increase in May 2021. There were 168 reported criminal incidents in the subway last month, compared to just 87 during the same month in 2020.
Last month, Governor Andrew Cuomo slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio over the spike in crime in the subway, saying riders no longer feel safe and calling for more NYPD officers in the subway system.
"The crime on the subways now is a major, major problem," Cuomo said. "How do you deny that?"