NYC Continues Gradual Return to Prepandemic Levels

Signs of recovery continue to paint a positive picture as New York City gradually returns to prepandemic activity. “Subway ridership hovers around 70% of prepandemic levels, return to the office numbers are slowly but surely inching up, and Broadway attendance is within striking distance of where it was in 2019.” In addition, foot-traffic data recently released in a report by location analytics firm Placer.ai revealed that the overall gap between quarterly visits in Manhattan during Q3 2023 has narrowed to 22.5% below the volume in Q3 2019; and upon taking a closer look, the gap further narrows to 15.1% in neighborhoods south of 14^th Street, with some neighborhoods — the West Village, Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, and the East Village surpassing Q3 2019 levels. Contributing to the trend is the easier commute for people in parts of Brooklyn and New Jersey to Lower Manhattan and a higher volume of “super trendy, hip and chic” establishments where people come to get drinks on a Friday or Saturday night versus the areas that “rely more heavily on office commuters and continue to feel the hurt from lingering remote work trends.”

Source:    https://www.crainsnewyork.com/economy/lower-manhattan-foot-traffic-data-shows-strong-recovery