The MTA announced Tuesday that subway ridership has passed the billion mark in 2022, the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lucky one billionth rider was 18-year-old Sasha Salazar, a Bronx resident studying nursing at Lehman College. Salazar swiped her MetroCard at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station Tuesday, intent on riding the 4 train into Manhattan to catch a matinee screening of Avatar: The Way of Water, but quickly learned of the significance of the morning’s turnstile crossing.