While New York City remains on PAUSE, per the governor's order, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has seen a steady uptick in ridership after a 90 percent decrease in April.
Interim MTA president Sarah Feinberg told CNBC on Tuesday that her agency is seeing 10,000 to 20,000 more riders on weekdays, now that most of the rest of the state has entered Phase 1 of the economic reopening plan.
As of Tuesday, eight out of 10 inter-county regions of New York had begun allowing curbside/in-store pickup for retailers and the resumption of non-essential construction, manufacturing and agricultural operations. On Wednesday, that number increased to nine regions as Long Island began its reopening.
Feinberg echoed calls for caution from other state leaders: "We're reminding folks that we need them to remain vigilant, and that we should really just be carrying essential workers still at this point."
While city subways and buses are still running on modified scheduled, Metro-North and the LIRR have added trains to their schedules and additional cars, increasing rider capacity 15 percent.
Commuters and transit workers are still required to wear masks and people are urged to observe social distancing measures as much as possible.
Governor Andrew Cuomo reopened trading on Wall Street on Tuesday with restrictions and told traders not to use public transit when returning to work.
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently said he expected New York City to begin its reopening in early-June.
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