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Rare good news for the T: Ridership is actually up
MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said growing ridership, better fare collection, and more reliable service led to an unexpected fare revenue boost.
MBTA fare revenues have seen an unexpected $18 million bump this fiscal year as ridership continues to rebound, General Manager Phil Eng shared last week.
The uptick represents a positive trend for the T, which has struggled to bring ridership back to pre-pandemic levels.
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“This is what we want to do; we want to make our system the preferred mode of choice,” Eng told the MBTA Board of Directors Thursday. “We want to have people continue to come back after they see that we could deliver reliable service.”
He said subway ridership was up 24% last month compared to February 2024, and each of the lines saw a boost in the number of riders. The Green Line made the largest gains with a 40% increase, followed by the Red Line at 26%, the Orange Line at 19%, and the Blue Line at 4%.
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“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Eng added.
There’s still a long way to go. By the MBTA’s count, average weekday ridership last month was around 808,071 systemwide, compared to 1,197,521 in February 2019. Meanwhile, the T faces a gaping operating deficit to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
But the trends seem promising: According to Eng, fare revenue has exceeded budget projections by $18 million so far this fiscal year, which began in July. He chalked the success up to growing ridership, better fare collection, and more reliable service.
“We fully expect that through the rest of this year and beyond, we’re going to continue to see more and more riders come back,” Eng said.
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