New York City Transit has released its annual survey of ridership data, and the agency found that, despite two new stadiums, subway ridership at the two stops serving the city’s ballparks declined from 2008 to 2009. In Queens, the Mets/Willets Point station saw just 1.826 million swipes down from 2.036 million in 2008 while in the Bronx, 161st St./Yankee Stadium saw traffic drop from 8.576 million rides to 8.41 million. The Times speculated this morning that the decline at Citi Field was due to the Mets’ poor play while the Yanks saw their numbers stay relatively constant despite an overall 2.7 percent drop in ridership due to the eight playoff games in the Bronx. I posited at Second Ave. Sagas that smaller capacity ballparks were to blame. After all, Citi Field and new Yankee Stadium hold 20 and 10 percent fewer fans, respectively, than the two parks they’ve replaced. The raw data, for those who enjoy this information, is available here on the MTA’s website.
River Ave. Blues ยป Subway ridership down for Yankee Stadium in 2009