Yes, NYC's Subways Really Are Getting More Crowded

NEW YORK CITY — Say sayonara to personal space, New York City straphangers.

More than 3.7 million people packed into the city's subways Wednesday, a record for the coronavirus pandemic, according to MTA data.

While it may be bad news for agoraphobes and claustrophobes who got used to desolate subway cars, MTA honcho Janno Lieber framed it as good news for the city's recovery from the pandemic.

"Ridership is coming back," he said Thursday. "In fact, ridership is surging and that's an indication that New York is coming back strong."

The "Ridership SURGE," as Lieber's lectern in Grand Central Station declared, is indeed real, data shows.

Three days in September, including Wednesday, have seen subway ridership hit levels not seen since March 2020, when the coronavirus was first detected in the city, according to MTA data.

But there's a significant caveat to the recent subway ridership spike.

Wednesday's ridership level, although record-setting, was still only about 63 percent of a comparable pre-pandemic day, data shows.

Whether the subways ever reach their pre-pandemic crowds remains to be seen.

A recent survey of major Manhattan employers found that half their workers are in the office on an average workday. And 77 percent of them said a hybrid office schedule will be their predominant workweek.

Still, Lieber noted that Wednesday's record is almost a 30 percent increase over the same point last year.

Straphangers might just have to get used to cramming into subway cars like sardines again.