The New York City subway carried 3.14 million riders during the New York City Marathon last weekend, setting a new record for Sunday ridership. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA on Monday announced the milestone, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the event‘s five-borough race that closes roads across the city and encourages New Yorkers and visitors alike to use public transit. The November 1 total surpasses the previous Sunday record of 2.8 million riders last year.
The combination of Halloween falling on Saturday, followed by the marathon on Sunday, led to other ridership records. Between Friday, October 30, and Sunday, November 1, the MTA set a new post-pandemic weekend ridership record, carrying 11.24 million riders and breaking its previous record, also set during Halloween and Marathon weekend in 2025.
Friday’s ridership also reached a new post-pandemic high for the day of the week, with 4.51 million subway riders, topping the previous Friday record of 4.4 million set on October 31, 2025.
Saturday saw 3.59 million subway riders, the highest Saturday total since 2016 and well above the previous post-pandemic Saturday record of 3.27 million, set on May 16.
“From the streets to the subways, New Yorkers were on the move this weekend in record numbers,” Hochul said. “The subway is the lifeblood of our city and from Halloween to the marathon, the major events that make New York special simply would not be possible without mass transit.”
These achievements followed another record-breaking day on Thursday, October 29, when the subway carried 4.72 million riders, marking the highest post-pandemic single-day ridership and a 9.7 percent increase from the same day last year.
A five-day weekday ridership record of 22.32 million riders was set the previous week, between October 19 and 23, while a seven-day record of 27.87 million riders was established over the same period.
Both marks were surpassed following last weekend’s surge, with five-day weekday ridership reaching a new high of 22.62 million for the week beginning October 26 and seven-day ridership climbing to 29.35 million.
“Spirits were high this weekend for Halloween and the NYC Marathon, but subway ridership was even higher,” MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber said. “These record-breaking numbers show once again that when New York goes big, it goes by mass transit.”
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