SantaCon Swarms Help NYC Subways Break Weekend Ridership Record: MTA

NEW YORK CITY — Swarms of Santas sashaying down to SantaCon helped the MTA break a subway record, officials said.

Really.

Straphangers made more than 2.9 million paid rides Saturday, a post-pandemic record for a weekend day, officials said.

"Santa came early this year," said Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit.

"SantaCon surely played a role in this Saturday record, and I am happy so many used the subway to celebrate the holiday season throughout the city."

The ridership record likely won't quell SantaCon Grinches' qualms about the booze-soaked event, not least because more and more New Yorkers have been returning to the rails.

Straphangers have seen subways largely return to their pre-pandemic jam-packed state during rush hours.

And MTA officials announced in November that the subways hit 1 billion riders six weeks earlier than in 2022.

Saturday's record marked the most weekend subway riders in four years, officials said.

SantaCon wasn't the only potential draw Saturday either — some straphangers dressed up in old-timey duds for Holiday Nostalgia Rides in 1930s trains cars.

Those rides will continue each Saturday during December, according to the New York Transit Museum.

"While all ridership records are special, whenever we have a big Saturday, it really shows that people trust the subway to get them to wherever it is they are going and that our focus on improving the weekend experience is bringing customers back in growing numbers," Davey said.