Commuters can ride one train from Poughkeepsie
to Grand Central
NEW YORK – Ridership on the Metro-North Railroad broke all records last year with 86.1 million customers, an increase of 1.6 percent over 2014.
“When ridership set records back in 2008, many said it was because of high gasoline prices, and that certainly is one factor, but gas prices have sunk to low levels and the trend is continuing,” said MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast. “We are seeing the confluence a strengthening regional economy, healthier downtowns around the region, a new generation of millennials who value public transportation, and greater productivity on board our trains through the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and laptops. Customers are responding to improvements we have made, including more frequent trains, improving on-time performance, a fleet of modern new electric cars, expanding availability of real-time information, and more channels for customer communication.”
Metro-North’s non-commutation ridership continued to increase faster than its commuters. Non-commutation increased by 2.3 percent while commutation rose by 1.0 percent.
Ridership west of the Hudson River increased at a faster rate than east of it. On the Port Jervis Line and New York State portion of the Pascack Valley Line, Metro-North expects 2015 ridership will have increased by 4.9 percent, to a combined total of 1.8 million passengers.
Ridership on the three connecting services operated under contract to Metro-North also increased by 3.8 percent, to 556,000. Ridership on the Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry rose 7.1 percent, while ridership on the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry declined by 3.8 percent. Ridership on the Hudson Rail Link, a bus service in the Bronx that connects Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale stations, rose 4.2 percent.
