This column originally appeared in On The Way, our transit newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC transportation. Sign up to get the full version in your inbox every Thursday.
Thanksgiving weekend is typically the busiest of the year for U.S. airlines — and Transportation Security Administration officials estimate 2.9 million turkey-stuffed travelers will take to the skies this Sunday, breaking a single day record.
For frequent flyers, that’s a huge number. But for regular riders of the subway, it’s peanuts.
On most weekdays, the subway turnstiles clock about 4 million entries. The city’s buses record more than 1.3 million taps and swipes daily, and conductors on the commuter railroads punch or scan about 450,000 tickets.
Those numbers remain down from pre-pandemic levels, but they dwarf what U.S. airline operations consider record breaking travel.
It’s a dynamic often cited by transit advocates, who bemoan the sorry state of New York’s mass transit system when compared to its airports, which have received billions of dollars in upgrades over the last decade using state and federal funds.
“While it doesn’t bring Congress home for the holidays, the MTA provides nearly 7 million rides a day,” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for the Riders Alliance. “It’s a good time to be thankful for our common infrastructure — and for our leaders to renew their commitment to invest in public transit.”
Thanksgiving 2023 service changes
Even without that type of commitment from Congress, the subways may prove their worth to New Yorkers who stay in town over the holiday.
Construction work on the subways is also slated to cause less disruption to service than during other holiday weekends. The MTA also plans a handful of outages to perform track maintenance and upgrades.
Here’s an overview of service changes:
- On Thanksgiving Day, subways and buses will run on a Sunday schedule, but there will be additional service on the 1 train and…
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