It’s back to the office as key NYC subway stations reveal big ridership gains
A boost in subway ridership at key Manhattan stations this fall suggests many workers have returned to the city post-pandemic — and that companies’ push to return white-collar employees to their desks is sticking.
Some of the sharpest year-to-year increases have been in office-heavy parts of Lower Manhattan and Midtown — with at least two stations hitting even their pre-pandemic levels, according to a snapshot of the MTA’s station-by-station ridership data.
A new survey from the city’s biggest employers set to be released Tuesday backs up the premise.
The data, collected by the Partnership for New York City, shows the number of workers back in the office has climbed 9 percentage points, to 58%, between Aug. 23 and Sept. 15 compared to 49% for the same period in 2022.
“We are confident that New York City commuters will continue to depend on the subway as their primary form of transit,” said Kathy Wylde, head of the Partnership, which represents the biggest employers across the five boroughs.
“The investments that the mayor and governor have made in making the system safer are paying off,’’ she said.
The survey from Wylde’s group estimates that when incorporating vacations, holidays and business travel, the drop-off between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic work-in-office is even less steep — with offices back to 72 percent of “normal.”
Overall, nearly three-quarters of Manhattan office workers are now coming in at least three days a week, the survey shows.
The questionnaire indicates that the back-to-office figures will likely flatline for the time being.
But the recent uptick is clearly evident in the increasingly crowded subway system.
Ridership has surged to new post-pandemic highs this month after the end of the summer holidays, the beginning of a new academic year for the city’s schools and universities and the renewed return-to-office push.
Overall, the trains have gotten back to roughly 68% to 72% of their pre-pandemic ridership.
An analysis of the MTA’s station-by-station ridership data comparing Sept, 13, 2023 — the Wednesday after Labor Day — with the same day of the week last year shows usage has soared at some prime Manhattan stations.
Ridership at the World Trade Center/Cortlandt stop served by the No. 1 line jumped 24% compared to the same day last year.
This year’s figure was even greater than pre-pandemic.
The 11,178 straphangers who swiped in Sept. 13 well exceeded the 10,187 who used it on the same Wednesday in September 2019, months before the pandemic struck and the city shut down.
Hudson Yards-34th Street also not only saw its ridership jump 20% when comparing Sept. 13 to the same day in 2022 — but the 19,265 who swiped or tapped in were just shy of the 19,856 who used it on the same Wednesday in 2019.
Both figures are noteworthy but come with caveats: WTC had just reopened in September 2018 after the 9/11 attacks, while portions of Hudson Yards were still under construction.
The ridership readouts elsewhere also showed significant rebounds between 2022 and 2023 — but still the dramatic gaps that the MTA must close to get its ridership back to its pre-COVID levels.
For example, the Wall Street stop for the No. 4 and 5 lines saw ridership jump 10% compared to 2022.
But the 13,320 people who paid their fare at the Wall Street 4/5 stop Sept. 13 was still 39% below the number who swiped there on the same day in 2019, far less than the overall system-wide average.
Ditto the gap at the nearby Fulton Street transit hub: Ridership in the Post’s data snapshot is up 11% year over year, but still 38% below the pre-pandemic level.
Things look a bit better at two Midtown stops frequently used by commuters pre-pandemic to avoid the crush around Times Square, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Bryant Park.
The Seventh Avenue B/D/E stop saw a jump of 22% in ridership and the Seventh Avenue-57th St. N/Q/R/W station saw a 15% bump.
The upticks mean that both stations are now trending slightly above the MTA’s ridership averages.
“For many months the MTA has been seeing its strongest ridership recovery in residential neighborhoods throughout the boroughs,” said Richard Davey, the chief executive of the MTA’s city transit division.
“Coupled with the strongest subway service in a decade, we are pleased to see that the recovery is expanding and strengthening in the region’s Central Business District.”
