New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced record ridership on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority commuter railroads, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. The LIRR carried 260,745 riders on Tuesday, May 14, the highest ridership for a single weekday since the pandemic. The ridership record coincided with a Grand Central Madison record – 41 percent of riders traveled to Grand Central Madison on Tuesday, the highest split with Penn Station since the terminal opened for full service last February.
Through the first three months of 2024 the LIRR and Metro-North have each celebrated strong on-time performance and ridership, with each carrying approximately 1.4 million riders last week. Building off a strong 2023 in which both LIRR and Metro-North saw non-commutation surpass 2019 levels, both railroads are currently carrying an average of 200,000 riders.
For four consecutive months, the LIRR’s systemwide on-time performance has exceeded 94 percent. On weekdays, the LIRR has consistently carried more than 200,000 riders since the opening of Grand Central Madison, with a current weekday average of at least 230,000 riders.
Metro-North’s record week, for the week of May 6, is the first time since the pandemic the railroad has averaged over 200,000 riders for a week, surpassing that total six of the last seven weekdays. The ridership highs come in the midst of record on-time performance. In addition to its historic on-time performance of 98.8 percent in 2024, Metro-North’s on-time performance has been at least 97 percent the last four years.
-via Press Release
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