Governor Kathy Hochul announced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) hit one billion trips on the New York City subway in 2023. The billionth customer was identified as Brian Jones (pictured above) from Teaneck, NJ, who tapped into the subway system at 175 St station at 10:54 a.m. This milestone comes six weeks earlier than last year, when the subway reached one billion rides a few days after Christmas Day.
“We have made historic investments enhancing service and safety on the Subways, encouraging millions of riders into the system every day,” Governor Hochul said. “Hitting the one billion ride mark far ahead of last year is a testament to our work, and I am excited to see us break ridership records week after week.”
Subway ridership continues to grow in 2023. Last week, over 23 million subway rides were taken, an eight percent increase from the same week in 2022.
“We’ve made great progress in providing faster, cleaner, and safer service and customers have responded by choosing to take the subway a billion times this year at a faster pace than last year,” said New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “I’m looking forward to delivering millions more rides before the end of 2023.”
“This has kind of been a reintroduction to the subway for me,” said Billionth Subway Rider Brian Jones. “Just took a new role here in New York, I had been working virtually for the last three years, and so was great to return on the tail end of that gap and to see that I can tap my debit card and walk right through the turnstile. I come from New Jersey, I can stop and have a cup of coffee in the terminal upstairs before I jump into my meetings, and so the subway has always been a part of my day and will continue to be a part of my day, and it’s great to experience these improvements as the journey continues.”
Jones received a $100 in value gift card, OMNY t-shirt, NYCT subway map glasses cleaner and an OMNY button.
The MTA’s OMNY fare-payment system also experienced usage growth in 2023, reaching one billion taps on July 26. OMNY market share of full-fare subway rides is now above 73 percent.
Customers are expressing their approval of OMNY, giving it a 79 percent satisfaction rate in the latest Spring 2023 Customers Count Survey. Customers have tapped into all 472 subway stations and boarded 204 local bus routes and 31 express buses. Of the 195 countries that issue bank cards, OMNY has processed a card from every single one of them.
