Urban retailers and landlords are celebrating the return of many of their customers to their workplaces after months and even years away.

In New York City, subway usage reached 3.76 million on Sept. 20, the most since the pandemic began in March 2020. It’s likely the result of companies’ efforts to get workers to come back to the office for at least part of the week after the Labor Day holiday. Subway usage reached 3.76 million on Tuesday, the most since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to Janno Lieber, CEO at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

For all of 2019, average weekday ridership was about 5.5 million. White-collar workers returning to their offices more frequently, combined with increased tourism and school re-openings are driving the resurgence in ridership, Leiber said.

It’s a national trend. The number of workers swiping into their offices hit a pandemic high over the past week, according to security firm Kastle Systems. The firm reports that workers are returning to offices at about 47.5% of pre-pandemic levels in 10 of the country’s top metropolitan areas. That’s up more than 4% from the week before Labor Day, when many large corporations required workers to return to their offices. At the same time last year, the national average was less than 31% of pre-pandemic levels.

Texas, which has consistently led the pack in return-to-office usage nationally, is seeing office attendance levels surge even higher. Downtown Houston had a 10% rise in returning in-person workers after Labor Day. This comes after the state hovered consistently around 50% of pre-COVID numbers for about five months, according to Central Houston Inc. New York City experienced the largest jump of in-person work, though Austin, Texas had the highest office occupancy rate, reaching 60.5%.

Many retailers and marketplaces reliant on transit traffic find cause to celebrate. At mixed-use center Patriot Place in Foxborough, Massachusetts, owner the Kraft Group, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation are cheering the return of weekday commuter rail service to the site’s Foxboro Station. Foxboro Station first featured weekday commuter rail service from Oct. 2019 until March 2020, when the COVID-19’s outbreak shut down service.