Here are the 10 busiest subway stations in the system

The crossroads of the world is still the busiest subway hub in the city, but a Queens station hit the jackpot last year when it comes to increased traffic thanks to a new casino

Times Square unsurprisingly was the most heavily trafficked station in New York last year, with more than 62 million trips, up about a million and half from 2011, according to ridership data the MTA released Tuesday.

Ten train lines plus a shuttle run through the tourist epicenter, and it had about 20 million more rides than the second-busiest in the city, which was Grand Central. Herald Square followed in third place, and Union Square and Penn Station rounded out the top five.

But it was the Aqueduct-North Conduit Ave that had the biggest increase of a single station, up more than 87.5% (1,000 riders per day) after the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct opened in October 2011.

The MTA said it uses the data as a guide for scheduling subways.

"We constantly analyze ridership trends several times a year and adjust service accordingly," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

Despite a catastrophic battering from Superstorm Sandy that shut down the entire system for days, the MTA had a banner year for ridership, hitting its highest point since 1950. The mild early winter and a slowly improving economy helped to offset Sandy, the agency said, and weekend service even matched its all-time high set in 1946.

Other tidbits from Tuesday's report include:

- The G train saw the biggest percentage weekday hike of any line, jumping up 4.2%, or about 2,000 riders every day, mostly thanks to more housing development along the line and more activity in downtown Brooklyn, the MTA said.

- - The Barclays Center helped make Atlantic Ave Brooklyn's busiest station in total ridership, despite both Jay Street-MetroTech and Court Street/Borough Hall serving more weekday riders.

The data came as the agency wrapped up "major blasting" under Grand Central for the East Side Access megaproject, which will eventually be an LIRR station serving the east side of Manhattan. The long-delayed andseverely over-budget project is set to finish by 2019. The MTA's other megaproject, the Second Ave. subway, is set to open its first phase by 2016 after its own budget and schedule issues.

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10 busiest subway stations in 2012:

10. Lexington Ave-53 Street/51st Street
9. 86th Street (4/5/6)
8. Lexington Ave/59th Street
7. 59th Street-Columbus Circle
6. Penn Station (A/C/E)
5. Penn Station (1/2/3)
4. Union Square
3. Herald Square
2. Grand Central
1. Times Square

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3 busiest stations in Brooklyn:
3. Court Street/Borough Hall (28th overall)
2. Jay Street-MetroTech (26th overall)
1. Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center (25th overall)

3 busiest in Queens:
3. Jamaica Center-Parsons-Archer (22n overall)
2. 74-Broadway/Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave (14th overall)
1. Flushing-Main Street (11th overall)

3 busiest in the Bronx:
3. Parkchester (94th overall)
2. 3 Ave-149 Street (48th overall)
1. 161 Street-Yankee Stadium (34th overall)

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Station with the biggest yearly increase:
Aqueduct-North Conduit Ave: 87.5%

Station with the biggest yearly decrease:
City Hall: -20.3%

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5 least-busy stations:
5. Atlantic Ave (L train)
4. Bushwick Ave-Aberdeen Street (L train)
3. Cypress Hills (J train)
2. East 143 Street-St Mary's Street (6 train)
1. Broad Channel (A train/shuttle)

*Note: Rankings do not include stations that had closures or openings