Just as the flowers are returning to Central Park, so too are commuters returning to the subway (which has a much more pleasant fragrence than years gone by).

New York City Transit’s MTA officials announced that last Friday subway ridership hit its highest mark since the pre-pandemic era with 2,119,655 trips recorded — the first time during the pandemic that subway ridership reached the 2.1 million mark. 

Sarah Feinberg, NYC Transit Interim President commented, “Subway ridership and New York City’s recovery continue hand in hand. The return of ridership is continued good news as the City continues its rebound from the pandemic. We look forward to more milestones ahead continuing to serve New York.” 

Throughout the pandemic, the MTA has made efforts to meticulously clean their transportation to keep to COVID-safety standards and strictly adhered to mask-wearing protocols, claiming that more than 98 percent of customers wear masks. The MTA also upgraded its “Live Subway Map” to help customers find and get to vaccination sites throughout the city. 

Pre-pandemic, subway ridership routinely exceeded 5.5. million. During the height of the pandemic, that fell by more than 90 percent to 300,000 daily trips.

Unfortunately, just as subway ridership returns, no doubt the rat population will be spreading the word that their food-dropping friends are back. But, after the year we've had, seeing the rodents might just be like seeing some relatives we haven't seen since pre-pandemic.