(Bloomberg) — New Jersey Transit said rail and bus ridership continues to rise as COVID-19 protocols are eased across the state and people return to their offices.
The agency said on Wednesday that average weekend rail ridership has been up 50% since mid-February from where it was before the pandemic began. Average rail ridership on weekends rose from around 70% pre-Covid levels to around 80% by Wednesday.
The latest figures, released during the agency’s first in-person meeting in two years, come as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reportedly mulling to double down on air and train travel mask mandates to monitor a surge in cases. Going to increase for the week. At the meeting, NJ Transit officials said they expected the federal mask mandate to expire soon.
System-wide bus ridership increased from 60% of pre-Covid levels to just 70%, and interstate numbers in New York rose to nearly 65% this month from about 60% of pre-Covid levels. Light rail ridership has increased from about 70% of pre-Covid levels to 75%.
On-time performance for the rail system in March was 93.1%, down slightly from 93.8% a year earlier, the agency said. The 12-month average was 92.7%, up from 93.5% in the same period a year ago.
Systems, which was hit by an Omron-fuelled growth in January, currently said 28 of its roughly 12,000 employees are currently positive, up 17 from the last board meeting in March.
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