Commuter Railroads Combine for Record Day

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s two commuter railroads — the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad — each broke post-pandemic ridership records on Tuesday, May 20 with the LIRR carrying 285,050 riders and the Metro-North Railroad carrying 255,638 riders. Together, the commuter railroads combined to carry a record of 540,688 riders in a single travel day.

“Our commuter railroads are the lifeline to our city, and we are continuing to deliver a faster and reliable transit system every single day for riders,” Governor Hochul said. “There is a reason our railroads keep surpassing ridership records and on-time performance — New Yorkers know they can rely on the LIRR and Metro-North to get them where they need to go.”

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “Record-setting commuter railroad reliability has brought riders back to transit and in the process, helped to revive the regional economy post-pandemic. Tip of the hat to our amazing railroad workforce for yet another milestone.”

The LIRR surpassed its previous post-pandemic of 284,694 passengers set on Nov. 27, 2024, with the highest recorded weekday average in the railroad’s history of 332,647 riders recorded in June 2019. The Metro-North continues its incredible momentum, obliterating its previous post-pandemic record of 249,585 that was set on Oct. 29, 2024. The highest recorded weekday average in Metro-North history — 290,837 passengers — was recorded in October 2019.

On-time performance for both railroads remains historically high with Metro-North at more than 98 percent and the LIRR close behind at 97 percent. The nation’s two busiest commuter railroads are consistently the safest way to travel, reporting historically low numbers of customer injuries.

Long Island Rail Road President Rob Free said, “LIRR continues to experience substantive ridership increases due to the improved customer experience and reliability of our service. This is a result of our exceptional workforce and the investments we’ve made and continue to make in the Long Island Rail Road. Riders know that the LIRR delivers safe, reliable, and convenient service with 97 percent of our trains getting them to their destination on time.”

Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek said, “Metro-North customers arrive at their destination on time over 98 percent of the time. Service has never been better. Our commitment to safe and reliable service is a top priority and the increase in ridership reflects our team’s commitment to the service they provide.”

March 2025 LIRR ridership increased 10.4 percent compared to March 2024, representing 87.6 percent of March 2019, which is the highest post-pandemic percentage. Commutation ridership increased 10.6 percent and non-commutation ridership increased 10.2 percent, surpassing the same month in 2019.

Metro-North’s total March 2025 ridership of 5.8 million increased 19.6 percent from February. Average daily ridership increased 8 percent to 185,633; average weekday ridership increased 5.8 percent to 216,540; and average weekend ridership increased 20.0 percent to 102,564. Metro-North’s total ridership in March increased 8.1 percent compared to March 2024 and represents 81.1 percent of March 2019 ridership.