Grand Central Madison Helps Boost Midtown East Foot Traffic from Long Island People

Although off to a somewhat lackluster start compared to transit officials anticipated 45% estimate of the volume of LIRR commuters rerouting from Penn Station to the new Grand Central Madison station on the east side of Midtown, which added four new means of egress along Madison Avenue, the latest data compiled by Placer.AI reveals a different picture. Creating for the first time a connecting link between the Long Island Rail Road and Midtown’s east side upon full opening of the station on February 27, 2023, the volume of pedestrians with ZIP codes from Long Island that visited or roamed the business improvement district surrounding Grand Central Terminal was “a whopping 115.5% more than they did in 2022 and 35.7% more than they did last year.” A compiling of the data by the Grand Central Partnership whose district spans 70 blocks between East 35^th and 54^th Streets between 2^nd and 5^th Avenues also indicated that in 2022, 2023, and 2024 as of the March release of the article, the volume of people with Long Island ZIP codes visiting the district was 431,945, 686,092 and 930,848 respectively – representing a significant spike in the area’s pedestrian traffic. Although not clear what exactly is driving increased weekend traffic, it is even more noteworthy that pedestrian counts on Saturdays and Sundays “have actually been outperforming some weekdays,” helping to change the dynamic of the neighborhood from the “typical Monday through Friday 9-to-5 to a more seven-days-a-week neighborhood for people and families.”

Source:    https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/grand-central-madison-credited-spike-midtown-foot-traffic