Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad both broke post-pandemic ridership records on May 20. Collectively, the commuter railroads carries 540,688 riders.
“Record-setting commuter railroad reliability has brought riders back to transit and in the process, helped to revive the regional economy post-pandemic,” Janno Lieber, Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and CEO, said.
LIRR carried 285,050 passengers on May 20. LIRR set is previous post-pandemic record on Nov. 27, 2024, reaching 284,694 passengers. In June 2019, it set its highest weekday average of 332,647 riders.
In March, total ridership grew 10.4 percent compared to 2024. It reached 87.6 percent of March 2019’s ridership. Commutation ridership grew 10.6 percent and noncommutation ridership grew 10.2 percent. On-time performance was 97 percent.
Metro-North carried 255,638 passengers on May 20. Metro-North set the previous post-pandemic record on Oct. 29, 2024, reaching 249,585 riders. In October 2019, the railroad carried its highest recorded weekday average, 290,837 passengers.
In March, total ridership grew 19.6 percent from the prior month and 8.1 percent compared to 2024. It reached 81.1 percent of March 2019’s ridership. On-time performance is more than 98 percent.
Average weekend ridership increased 20.0 percent, average daily ridership increased 8 percent, and average weekday ridership increased 5.8 percent.