Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Long Island Rail Road shattered its post-pandemic daily ridership record twice this week, carrying 298,419 passengers on Wednesday, July 23, and 295,419 passengers on Tuesday, July 22. Both milestones contributed to the railroad’s busiest seven-day period since the pandemic, with a total of 1.72 million passengers riding between Thursday, July 17, and Wednesday, July 23. Before this week, the previous post-pandemic ridership high was 287,437 on June 19. The pre-pandemic 2019 average weekday ridership of 316,692 was the highest since 1949.

“New Yorkers know that the best way to get to and from Long Island is by riding the Long Island Rail Road. From Mets games to beach days and beyond, the LIRR connects riders to so much of what makes summer in our state special,” Governor Hochul said. “By delivering better, more frequent service since the opening of Grand Central Madison in 2023, LIRR ridership has grown considerably to near-record highs. I look forward to celebrating more milestones to come as New Yorkers continue to benefit from the ease and convenience of taking the train to get around.”

The ridership highs reflect the railroad’s increasing customer satisfaction rate and record-breaking on-time performance statistics. Through the first half of the year, 96.6% of trains reached their destination on time, the railroad’s best rate in its history outside of pandemic years, and nine tenths of a percentage point above last year’s rate of 95.7% covering the same period of the year.

Overall customer satisfaction with the railroad reached 81% in the spring of 2025, up five percentage points from the fall 2024, when it reached 76%, which was itself a six point increase from spring 2024’s rate of 70%.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “So much for the slow summer season. The Long Island Rail Road is busier than ever, carrying more customers and with more trains and better on-time performance. Under Governor Hochul, the MTA’s delivering fast, affordable and accessible transit regionwide.”

LIRR President Rob Free said, “The LIRR is consistently delivering clean, safe and reliable service for all New Yorkers. Ridership numbers like this show that people know that the LIRR is the best way to travel to work, school and everything that Long Island has to offer.”

MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara said, “Riders are voting with their TrainTime tickets to use America’s busiest, and one of the most reliable, railroads as they tell us in the latest scientific survey that they are beyond satisfied with their experience. Whether it’s going to work, seeing friends, or heading for a summer afternoon at the beach, the LIRR is bringing New Yorkers together to get where they need to go.”

The LIRR’s excellent performance comes in the midst of an incredibly busy summer in the area that has already seen multiple concerts, fans traveling to Citi Field to see the first place Mets, thousands going into Manhattan for dining and thousands traveling to the Hamptons and all the other Long Island beaches.

High on-time performance and service reliability will continue to draw people to the LIRR this summer as the Mets continue to work towards the playoffs and the U.S. Open in August. The Ronkonkoma Branch will also see expanded service to Farmingdale for the Ryder Cup in September.

In addition to excellent service, the LIRR Concourse at Penn Station is overflowing with a wide variety of dining and retail options

Strong LIRR Performance Mirrors Trends at New York City Transit

The strong LIRR ridership numbers follow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) announcement that it achieved its best summer subway ridership week since 2019, hitting four million subway riders three days in a row in a summer season — a first since the start of the pandemic.

On Tuesday, July 15, New York City Transit recorded 4,046,610 subway riders; on Wednesday, July 16, the agency recorded 4,121,751 subway riders; and on Thursday, July 17 saw 4,029,692 riders. This milestone was also achieved during the same week NYC experienced a near-record rainfall on Monday, July 14, and transit crews worked expeditiously to restore service the evening of the storm and through the night to ensure a smooth commute the next day. Moreover, Wednesday's ridership of 4,121,751 subway riders is a new post-pandemic ridership high for the summer.