Passengers ride on a downtown subway car on February 23, 2021 in New York City.
The MTA hit a major milestone this week, reaching a new peak in daily ridership since New York City's shutdown in March 2020.
New Yorkers took more than 2,009,025 subway rides on Thursday, the transit agency announced. Data shows subway ridership dropped 90 percent in the weeks after the shutdown crippled the city.
Ridership across the subway system averaged more than 5.5 million every weekday, according to the MTA, and dropped to 300,000 last April.
Bus ridership on April 7 reached 1,155,405, a record level since September of last year when fare collection resumed.
Transit officials say it's safe to return to the subway system and they're still taking extra precautions to keep everyone on board healthy.
"Seeing more and more riders return to the subway system gives everyone in New York a sense of optimism, and hope -- it's a return to normalcy," said Interim President of New York City Transit Sarah Feinberg.
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Subways are still closed between 2 and 4 a.m. for overnight cleaning. There's no word on when or if that schedule will change.
