The last time this many people rode the city’s subways, William O’Dwyer was calling the shots from Gracie Mansion.
More than 1.65 billion straphangers used the system in 2012 — numbers that haven’t been seen since 1946 when ridership was more than 2 billion, according to MTA statistics released yesterday.
Total usage was up nearly 1 percent from 2011, even with a five-day shutdown of the entire system due to Hurricane Sandy.
Officials credit the success to the economy rallying back and a fairly mild winter — virtually free of blizzards that can wreak havoc on the system.
The G train led the way, boasting 2,000 more riders on weekdays thanks in part to the real-estate boom throughout Brooklyn’s hipster havens.
Officials also credited more travel between Queens and Brooklyn due to the newly opened Barclays Center.
Ridership at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station was up almost 800,000 from 2011 with the arrival of the Nets — making it the borough’s busiest station.
It took over the top spot from Jay Street-MetroTech, which remained the most used station Monday through Friday.
Along the A line, the Aqueduct-North Conduit Avenue station had a daily increase of 1,000 riders — mostly gamblers heading to the Resorts World Casino.
In Harlem, ridership was up at all neighborhood subway stations. There was a 3.4 percent increase on the 2 and 3 lines along Lenox Avenue and a 3.7 percent rise at the A/B/C/D stops from 116th Street to 145th Street.
Baseball fans, meanwhile, made their choice.
The 4/B/D stop at Yankee Stadium saw a surge of 225,122 riders in 2012 — while at Citi Field, the Mets-Willets Point station was down 36,219.
Just a station away, the 7-line terminal at Flushing-Main Street was tops in Queens.
Despite the banner year, the numbers couldn’t touch the stats from 1946, even though the metropolitan area then had nearly a million less residents.
Many New Yorkers then worked six days a week and many of today’s free-transfer points required a second fare.