MTA on Track to Post Record Year
Of Ridership, Performance for 2025
NEW YORK—The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is on track to deliver a record-breaking year, fueled by a solid first six months of 2025. New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad ridership. On-time performance has improved in the first half of the year, and customer satisfaction rates are up across all agencies, state officials announced on July 14.
This comes as the MTA executes a historic capital plan, investing in state-of-good-repair work to ensure the system continues to run reliably and safely. Safety in the subway system continues to improve, with overall major crimes dropping by 3.2% from the same period last year and by almost 10% when compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
“MTA ridership, performance and safety are all improving dramatically in 2025, serving nearly six million New Yorkers every day and keeping New York moving,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “Thanks to the investments we’re making in safer, more reliable and more frequent service, riders are benefiting every day. When transit is thriving, New York is thriving.”
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber added, “The new MTA is a business-like organization that delivers for customers, and the proof is in the data – soaring ridership, historic levels of on-time performance and major improvements in customer satisfaction.”
In the past several years, service has increased across the MTA network, officials reported. In 2023 and 2024, weekend and off-peak weekday service increased on 12 subway lines, reducing wait times for millions of customers. Other highlights include:
• The opening of Grand Central Madison in 2023 enabled a 41% increase in service on the Long Island Rail Road.
• Bus service has improved across the city: service was increased on eight express and 15 local routes with high-ridership earlier this year, following the launch of congestion pricing.
• The Queens Bus Network Redesign, which began its first phase on June 29, expands 24-hour service to hundreds of thousands of Queens bus riders and includes a $35 million annual investment in more service for the borough.
On June 18, Metro-North carried nearly 259,000 riders, and the average weekday ridership for the month of June was 235,450, both new post-pandemic highs. Year-to-date Metro-North ridership is up 6% compared to 2024 and up 63% compared to 2022. Metro-North delivered an On-Time Performance rate of 98% in June, continuing its strong start to 2025, MTA officials noted. In a customer survey completed this spring, Metro-North received a satisfaction rating of 89% from customers, an increase of 4% from the Fall 2024 survey.
Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek said, “Riders are responding to the great service Metro-North is providing by choosing to take the train in record numbers. And we’ll continue to deliver safe and reliable service that they can count on.”
In the first half of 2025, performance across New York City Transit was at historic highs. Weekday subway on-time performance in the first six months of 2025 was 83.7%, 2.4% higher than the same time last year and on track for the best non-pandemic year in recorded history. The first half of the year has seen record post-pandemic ridership for subways, buses and paratransit. In June, NYCT surpassed 106 million rides, up 10% from 2024. Subway ridership in 2025 is up 8% compared to 2024 and 31% compared to 2022.
Published: July 15, 2025
