NEW YORK – After a long pandemic that affected passenger numbers on the underground from New York City, the MTA celebrated its billionth customer in 2022 who was identified as Sasha Salazar, a Hispanic woman from the Bronx who walked into the station 161 St. Yankee Stadium on Tuesday morning.
Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) announcement that it will deliver 1 billion rides by 2022.
“We’ve worked hard to bring customers back by providing safer, cleaner and faster service, and reaching 1 billion passengers by 2022 is proof that our work is paying off,” Governor Hochul said. “New Yorkers and tourists continue to flock to the subway, proving that there is no better way to get around New York than by public transportation.”
And Salazar was thrilled to experience it, and with an additional $100 in credits for his transportation, MTA representatives are optimistic to see such an increase in sponsorships not seen since 2019.
“I pass and there are two men who say ‘hello, you are the billionth customer’ and I say oh my God,” Salazar told Telemundo 47.
The milestone marks the first time the New York City Subway carried 1 billion customers in a calendar year since 2019. The subway carried 760 million customers in 2021 and 640 million in 2020. The subway’s average daily ridership it is currently around 60% of 2019 pre-pandemic levels, when the system carried 1.698 million passengers.
“The trains are cleaner, they are safer and as you can see here we have the police preparing our trains and I think people are realizing this and that means something to the users who want to travel with us, want to go where they have to go,” MTA press spokeswoman Amanda de Valdez said.
The MTA’s OMNY fare payment system also saw usage growth in 2022 with more than 425 million touches. This increase in subway passenger market share for OMNY follows the introduction of the “Lucky 13” fare program, the launch of OMNY for MTA fare customers, and the continued expansion of OMNY cards in retail stores.
