Apparently the only thing we love doing more than complaining about the subway is riding it. Yes, even with reports talking about how gross the subway cars are and the bleak future of 4% fare hikes staring us in the face, people rode the subway more than ever in 2013, according to some number’s crunched by amNewYork‘s Dan Rivoli. 1.7 billion people rode the subway in 2013, a 65-year high and what we can assume to be a record, because there were only around 200 people alive in the 40s.
1.7 billion people, all walking too slowly in front of you, taking up two seats on the train, leaning over and staring at the empty tunnel trying to will the train to show up faster. That’s a whole lot of people. Brooklyn is leading the pack in subway ridership increases (because we’re the best), with a 4.4% increase in riders. Well, we’re leading the pack percentage-wise anyway, because even though Manhattan saw its ridership increase 3.1%, they got 28 million more riders compared to our 15.5 million riders.
But Brooklyn-centric lines also led the pack in ridership increases, with the L train getting 5.3% more weekday riders and the G and F getting a 4% increase in weekday ridership on average. This is all great news for the subway system of course, so obviously the best way we recognize this ridership record is by taking $40 million away from the MTA for a cheap political stunt to make the budget look good.