Have some New York City subway riders had enough?

For years, even as service deteriorated, the number of people riding the New York City subways went in only one direction: up.

The increase in ridership was so dramatic that officials often blamed overcrowding for contributing to the rising number of delays in a century-old system that is ill equipped to deal with the demand.

But recently, those ridership numbers have been heading in the other direction: down.

Despite an increase in the population and in the number of new jobs, average weekday subway ridership dropped to 5.712 million this September from 5.817 million in September 2016, according to figures released this week by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Historically, ridership numbers rise and fall with employment: when more people are working, more people ride public transit,” said John Raskin, the executive director of the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group. “A drop in ridership during a booming economy is an indicator of a transit system in crisis. People need to get to work and they are finding that public transit isn’t getting them there. As a result, New Yorkers are voting with their MetroCards: they are starting to abandon an unreliable transit system and look for steadier, more comfortable alternatives.”