MBTA PASSENGER LEVELS,  which took a hit earlier this year when COVID levels shot up, have recovered their lost ground and appear to be picking up steam, particularly on the commuter rail system.

Commuter rail ridership a year ago was just 11.6 percent of pre-COVID levels. Passenger levels rose a bit in the last half of 2021 but they really began to pick up during the first three months of this year. Ridership on commuter rail hit 31 percent of pre-COVID levels in January, rose to 39 percent in February, and reached 49 percent in March.

Steve Poftak, the general manager of the MBTA, said on Thursday at a meeting of the T board of directors that commuter rail is no longer the laggard among the T’s various transportation offerings.

“That’s done,” he said. “The commuter rail is now pretty much marching in step with the Red, Orange, and Green Lines.”

Subway ridership overall is at 46 percent of pre-COVID levels, or nearly 250,000 validations a day, with the Blue Line leading the way at 62 percent of pre-COVID levels and the Red Line far behind at 41 percent. The bus system is carrying 275,000 passengers a day, up 56,000 from mid-January. Commuter rail is at 60,000 passengers a day.

“This is good news for the T across the board,” Poftak said.

Sheri Warrington, a spokeswoman for Keolis Commuter Services, the operator of the commuter rail system, said riders are starting to return because employees are going back into their offices, college students are back on campus, and more and more people are taking part in activities outside of their homes.

She said riders may also be returning to rail because traffic is worsening and gas prices are rising. Keolis officials say commuter ridership on weekends is already back to pre-pandemic levels.

The Providence-Stoughton line is the busiest in terms of riders, serving nearly 13,000 riders a day during the week of March 14. A year before it had 3,460 riders on a typical weekday. Ridership on the Framingham-Worcester line has grown more slowly, rising from 1,665 on a typical weekday in March 2021 to 6,864 last week.