Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s two commuter railroads, each set post-pandemic ridership records on Tuesday, May 20 when the LIRR transported 285,050 passengers and Metro-North Railroad transported 255,638 passengers, NY Governor Kathy Hochul said today.
Combined, the commuter railroads together transported a record of 540,688 passengers in one travel day.
Our commuter railroads are the lifeblood to our city, and we’re continuing to provide a faster and dependable transit system day-in and day-out for riders”, Governor Hochul stated. “There is a reason our railroads continue to break ridership records and on-time performance — New Yorkers know they can count on the LIRR and Metro-North to get them where they need to go”.
MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber stated, “Record-breaking commuter railroad reliability has returned riders to transit and in doing so assisted in the post-pandemic resurgence of the regional economy. Tip of the hat to our terrific railroad workforce for yet another milestone.”.
“LIRR continues to see substantive ridership growth because of the enhanced customer experience and reliability of our service. This is a direct result of our world-class workforce and our investments and ongoing investment in the Long Island Rail Road. Riders recognize that the LIRR provides safe, reliable, and convenient service with 97 percent of our trains arriving on time at their destination”, stated LIRR President Rob Free.
Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek stated that,”Metro-North customers reach their destination on time more than 98 percent of the time. The service has never been better. Safe and reliable service is a primary concern and the ridership increase is a testament to the dedication of our team to the service they offer.”.
The LIRR broke its earlier post-pandemic of 284,694 riders established on Nov. 27, 2024, with a record-breaking weekday peak in the railroad’s history of 332,647 riders in June 2019. The Metro-North maintains its breathtaking pace, shattering its earlier post-pandemic mark of 249,585 set on Oct. 29, 2024. The Metro-North’s record-breaking weekday average of 290,837 passengers was achieved in October 2019.
Both railroads’ on-time performance is historically high at more than 98% for Metro-North and 97% for the LIRR. The country’s two busiest commuter railroads are always the safest mode of travel, posting historically low levels of customer injuries.
March 2025 LIRR ridership rose 10.4 % from March 2024, which is 87.6 % of March 2019, the highest post-pandemic month. Commutation ridership was up 10.6 % and non-commutation ridership was up 10.2 %, topping the same month in 2019.
Metro-North’s March 2025 systemwide ridership of 5.8 million rose 19.6 % from February. Average daily ridership rose 8 % to 185,633; average weekday ridership rose 5.8 % to 216,540; and average weekend ridership rose 20.0 % to 102,564. Metro-North’s March ridership rose 8.1 % over March 2024 and is 81.1 % of March 2019 ridership.