New York subway ridership continues climbing

MTA New York City Transit says annual ridership on New York's subway system continued advancing in 2011, up 2.3% from 2010. That translates into about 1.640 billion riders for the year; the exact annual figure was not released immediately by MTA. Annual ridership in 2010 was 1.604 billion, itself the second-highest amount since 1950.

MTA did note the rise in 2011 was spearheaded by increased weekend ridership, averaging 5.4 million per weekend day, the highest since 1947.

Ridership gains during 2011 were strongest on the system’s Eastern Division.

“The Myrtle Ave. M line had the strongest growth of any line, likely a continuing effect of the service change that re-routed the M line via 6th Avenue in Manhattan and Queens Blvd. in Queens,” MTA said. As well, “We continue to see strong growth in northern Brooklyn on the western portions of the L and J lines running through Williamsburg and Bushwick,” two neighborhoods undergoing demographic change.

“The Aqueduct-North Conduit Ave A station (and Aqueduct Racetrack station when open) saw a large ridership increase after the closure of off-track betting in December 2010. Ridership at Aqueduct-North Conduit Av nearly tripled after the opening of the Resorts World Casino at the racetrack on October 28, 2011,” MTA also said.