By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Published: November 20, 2013
The weather was mild on the subway system’s perfect day — clear skies to coax New Yorkers outdoors, paired with a breeze that discouraged long walks.
There were probably few vacations planned, with summer a recent memory and the year-end holidays looming.
It was, perhaps most important, a Thursday.
And so, on Oct. 24, 5,985,311 subway rides were taken in New York City, the most in recorded history, according to an internal memo prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week. (The authority began keeping daily records in 1985.)
The feat was consistent with a pair of little-publicized trends: Ridership tends to peak on Thursdays, transit officials said, and the last two Octobers are responsible for the five busiest subway days on record — three Thursdays and two Fridays.
Before the new high, the record was 5,938,726, set on Oct. 11, 2012.
“October is a month where you have school in session for a majority of the days,” said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the authority, adding that Columbus Day was the only major holiday. “It’s also a month when a vast majority of the working public is at work.”
Thursdays, meanwhile, combine the high peak-period ridership of a midweek morning with an after-work slate of happy hours and late nights out, Mr. Ortiz said.
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In October, a Day for the New York City Subway’s Ridership Record Book - NY Times
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