Weekend ridership recovery across Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) services has risen faster than weekdays since the pandemic ended, with average ridership near 2019 levels and even exceeding it at times. The recovery gap between weekends and weekdays has accelerated in recent years, suggesting the MTA continue to adjust service in response, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
“Weekend ridership recovery has been a bright spot for the country’s largest transportation system,” DiNapoli said. “The MTA should continue to focus on increasing the reliability and frequency of service on weekends to meet the ongoing rise in demand. The authority can also work with its partners in government to address fare evasion’s impact on fare revenue, and focus on improvements in those areas where ridership recovery continues to fall short.”
Overall MTA ridership has grown consistently since the pandemic, but remains lower than 2019. Weekdays still comprise the vast majority of ridership, at 80% of the total in 2025, but the weekend share grew 3 percentage points to 20%, from 17% in 2019. The gap between weekday and weekend ridership recovery grew from a 2 percentage point difference in 2020 to nearly 15 percentage points in 2025.
Leisure travel and tourism have helped boost ridership on weekends across various transportation modes, following a pattern experienced by transportation systems across the nation. Weekend ridership numbers have been particularly strong at certain times of the year when compared to 2019, such as in the summer and during the holiday season and reached full recovery to 2019 levels at certain points during these periods.
In 2025, the average weekend subway ridership was at 89% of the 2019 level, up from 80% in 2024. By contrast, average weekday subway ridership was at 74% of the 2019 level in 2025, up from 68% in 2024.
Weekend MTA bridge and tunnel crossings were the first to return to 2019 levels in the spring of 2021, driven by increased car ownership during the pandemic. Paratransit rides fully recovered by 2023, helped by the MTA’s enhanced responsiveness and types of services provided.
MTA’s commuter railroads, which were partly boosted by programs to incentivize ridership, have also risen. Average weekend ridership on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) was 27% higher in 2025 than it was in 2019, buoyed by new service provided to the Grand Central Madison station, while Metro-North’s average weekend ridership was at 92% of 2019.
Paid bus ridership on weekends lagged at 67% of the pre-pandemic level, though that does not include estimated fare evaders. When non-paying riders are included, bus ridership was closer to 81% of the 2019 level, according to DiNapoli’s analysis of MTA data.
Weekend subway and bus ridership compared to the pre-pandemic levels differs among boroughs and by subway and bus line. Average weekend subway ridership in Manhattan in 2025 was at 92% of the 2019 level, while Brooklyn and Queens weekend ridership had reached 90% of 2019 ridership. The Bronx, however, only reached 66% of the average weekend subway ridership in 2025 when compared to 2019, but showed improvement in 2025, rising by 8 percentage points.
DiNapoli’s report notes that Manhattan has the lowest unemployment rate among all boroughs, while the Bronx has the highest rate, reflecting weekend commuting patterns that may be tied to income or related to employment in certain retail and leisure sectors. In addition, Manhattan, the city’s main tourist draw, is likely benefiting from a near full return in overall tourists, including local visitors.
Continued recovery in weekend ridership has been aided by MTA choices over service delivery. For example, the MTA has increased weekend service on subways by more than 5%, when comparing 2025 to 2019. Reliability of service has also improved. On-time performance (OTP) on weekends increased to 86.6% in 2025, higher than the 80.5% OTP in 2022 and higher than the 83.9% OTP in 2019.
Bus ridership recovered quicker than other modes early in the pandemic as essential workers utilized the system, but combined paid weekend bus ridership for New York City Transit (NYCT) and MTA Bus dropped to around 60% of the 2019 level starting in September 2023 and recovery has been flat since, partly due to fare evasion. Fare evasion rates on MTA buses, which were around 20% before the pandemic, rose as high as 50% in 2024. MTA efforts to reduce fare evasion, working with the New York Police Department, resulted in the rate dropping to an average of 46% in 2025.
DiNapoli recommends the MTA continue to focus on increasing the reliability and frequency of service on weekends to meet shifts in demand. Also, the MTA should address subway and bus lines that are experiencing particularly slower recoveries, especially in the Bronx.
Improvements to service and continued efforts to reduce fare evasion, including increasing enrollment in the Fair Fares program, which helps New Yorkers with low incomes reduce their transportation costs, may enable the MTA to continue to bring paid bus and subway ridership back to the pre-pandemic levels.
Report
Related Reports
Trends in New York City Subway Delays
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Safety, Reliability and Frequency