New York MTA ridership decline continues

Railway Age, May, 2004

January 2004 saw a continuation of ridership declines posted in 2003 by New York MTA's transit and commuter rail agencies. NYC Transit subways carried 109.1 million riders in January this year, down from 115.0 million in January 2003. Subway ridership in calendar 2003 dropped to 1.384 billion from 1.413 billion in 2002.

On the Long Island Rail Road, January 2004 ridership dropped to 6.3 million from 6.8 million in January 2003. Annual ridership declined to 80.9 million in 2003 from 83.9 million in 2002. Metro-North carried 8.59 million riders this January, compared with 5.80 million in January 2003. Ridership totaled 71.1 million in 2003, down from 73.2 million in 2002.