#Subway ridership tops 1.5 million for first time since start of COVID-19

New Yorkers took 1.5 million subway trips in a single day on Thursday for the first time since the start of the Big Apple’s coronavirus pandemic in March, the MTA said.

Thursday’s subway ridership was 1,527,139, MTA spokesman Ken Lovett said — the highest since March 18.

“We’re glad so many of you are returning to us, because as always — there’s no better way to get around New York City,” the MTA said on Twitter.

Thursday’s pandemic-era record marks an increase of 128,848 riders compared to last week’s peak ridership day, 1,413,564 on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

But overall transit trips were actually down Thursday compared to the previous week — due to a dramatic drop on buses after the MTA reinstated fare collection and front door boarding on Monday.

New Yorkers took just over one million bus trips this Thursday, compared to nearly 1.3 million a week earlier, MTA stats show.

Transit ridership has rebounded slowly over the summer, after plummeting 90 percent in March and April. Subwa ridership at the end of June sat around one million trips per day.

“It’s annecdotal obviously, but I’m seeing more and more people getting back on,” Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein told The Post.

“September and October are usually high ridership months, so I expect it to inch up more,” he said.

Pre-coronavirus daily ridership hovered around 5.5 million on subways and 1.8 million on buses.

Tri-State Transportation Campaign director Nick Sifuentes said the ridership spike coupled with New York’s low COVID-19 transmission rates demonstrate increasing confidence about taking transit.

“We’re seeing transmission rates below .5-percent even as we have 1.5 million people back on trains.” he said.

“That should tell you everything you need to know.”