Governor Hochul Announces Record Subway Ridership on Marathon Sunday

Subways Record 2.3 Million Paid Rides on Marathon Sunday, OMNY Sets All-Time Record for Subway Entries

Sunday Record Comes Week After Multiple MTA Agencies Post Best Week in Last 12 Months, Including Saturday Record on the Subway Saturday, Oct. 28

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New Yorkers rode the New York City subway in post-pandemic record numbers to get to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. Marathon runners and spectators alike took the subway to Sunday’s race, accounting for 2,304,683 paid rides, the highest for a Sunday in almost four years. The record is an 8.8 percent improvement on last year’s Marathon Sunday when 2,118,137 people rode.

“The TCS New York City Marathon is an institution, and clearly the best way for runners, friends and spectators to see the world-class athletes compete is by taking the subway,” Governor Hochul said. “Week after week, we are continuing to break ridership records on our subways, railroads, and buses as New Yorkers proudly keep coming back to the system thanks to our critical investments in safety and service.”

On Marathon Sunday, riders relied on OMNY – the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) contactless payment system – to take the subway. OMNY accounted for 58.5 percent of all rides on Sunday, surpassing the previous record set on Saturday Oct. 28, when 56.2 percent of all rides were paid via tap-and-go.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “There’s nothing like Marathon Sunday to show that New York City’s comeback is alive and well. I rode the subway five times to watch my daughter run and felt the energy and excitement firsthand at every stop. Kudos to the NYC Transit team, who stepped up like they always do, with smart planning and preparation to get millions of fans and athletes where they needed to go.”

This is the second consecutive weekend the subway system set a weekend record. Last Saturday, October 28, the subway recorded over 2.7 million paid rides. On Sundays, in particular, ridership has averaged around 1.9 million riders in the past four weeks.

The Oct. 28 record helped buoy the best seven-day period for multiple MTA agencies between Oct. 23 and Oct. 29. New York City Transit saw the subway and Access-A-Ride post their best week in the last 12 months. The subway recorded over 24.4 million paid rides, while Access-A-Ride recorded 196,000 booked trips.

The commuter railroads both posted their best weeks in the past 12 months as well, with both now regularly carrying at least 200,000 riders on an average weekday. The Long Island Rail Road carried 1.4 million riders for the week and Metro-North Railroad carried 1.3 million for the week. On Saturday, Oct. 28, Metro-North sold 3,010 tickets to Cold Spring from Grand Central Terminal for fall foliage fans – more tickets than the population of Cold Spring itself.