In Less Than Six Months, Popularity of New Yankees-E. 153rd Street Station Surges

MTA Metro-North Railroad set a new record for ridership last night when 6,009 people took the train to the game at the new Yankees – E. 153rd Street Station to attend the World Series clincher. Of the 50,315 attendees, 12% arrived via Metro-North!

The previous highest ridership of the 2009 baseball season was August 8, when 5,582 fans took Metro-North to the Yankees-Red Sox game.

"The success of this station is assured as more and more people try the service," said Metro-North President Howard Permut. "Those who have left their cars behind are generating very positive word-of-mouth evidence that the railroad is safe, easy, fast, reliable, and beats driving and parking."

"Planning scheduled for game day service with changing start times, rain delays, extra innings and such was challenging as was executing that service plan. But Metro-North's dedicated professionals provided excellent customer service throughout the season," Permut said.

Ridership has been growing steadily since the new west Bronx station opened May 23, with weekend games averaging 4,000 customers and weeknight games averaging 2,800 people.

For the eight post-season games played at home, ridership averaged 4,800. By the end of the year, the railroad expects to have provided close to 500,000 trips to and from the station.

For July, August and September, the average ticket sales to the station was almost 100,000 rides a month. This is a hybrid of game and non-game days.

On weekday, non-game days the average count was 100 trips in each direction. The station overpass will provide access for neighborhood residents to the new waterfront park being constructed along the Harlem River.

"Overall, for the first season, the results are very good. It is a big success," Permut said.

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