In May, the Port Authority announced that all four PATH lines would be available on
weekends between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. — thanks to streamlined rides and increased
capacity with direct service on the Hoboken-World Trade Center, Journal Square-33rd
Street, and Hoboken-33rd Street lines.
In June, it saw how much impact that would have.
The Port announced last week that the PATH moved a record number of passengers in
June and across the first half of 2026, surpassing many of the busiest days and months
in the railroad’s recent history.
Weekend ridership in June reached new all-time highs. Average Saturday ridership
climbed to 144,391 riders and average Sunday ridership reached 114,146, both the
highest levels recorded for any month since PATH began tracking the metric, and both
more than 25 percent above their June 2019 and June 2025 levels.
Total ridership in June reached 5.9 million passengers, the system’s busiest month
since March 2020. Average weekday ridership in June also reached its highest level
since the pandemic, at 222,812 passengers. The busiest day of the month came on
Thursday, June 18, the day of the Knicks championship parade, when the system
moved 252,272 passengers.
The momentum carried into July 4. Preliminary counts showed PATH served 145,277
riders on the holiday, which would be the system’s busiest Independence Day since the
beginning of daily recordkeeping. This would be a 33 percent jump from Independence
Day 2025, when the system carried 109,140 passengers.
Over the first half of the year, PATH carried 31.4 million passengers, a 7.5 percent jump
from the same period of 2025. This was the highest January through June ridership total
recorded since 2020.
In May, the PATH announced its “Every Line, Every Day” service, the latest in a series
of service improvements spanning weekdays, evenings, and weekends following the
completion of the Port Authority’s $430 million PATH Forward modernization program.
The changes were part of the Port Authority’s 2026-35 Capital Plan, which was unveiled
last fall and represented the most significant service enhancements in 25 years.
