Transit agencies count each passenger boarding, so the figure represents that.
It doesn't mean that 43M+ individuals rode their conveyances.  That's why the
figure appears so misleading.

David Minor wrote:
>
> York Staters,
>
> According to French's Gazetteer of 1860 in the fiscal year ending
> September 30, 1858, New York State trains had carried 43,786,579
> passengers. If I'm reading the report correctly, that's a lot of
> people. Does anyone else have any thoughts on the accuracy of that
> count?