No it adds up. The latest data [0] shows an average of 3.7 million a day on the subway. For comparison London on the underground has about 2.6 million a day [1]. Given the size of the cities and surrounding areas compared, these numbers seem reasonable. Are you to believe that all these public transport companies are all in some global scheme to fudge their numbers to similar magnitudes? The MTR in hong kong similarly reports 4.45 million a day [2], a similar amount. I'd wager a guess you'd see similar in Paris, Tokyo etc...

[0]:https://www.mta.info/agency/new-york-city-transit/subway-bus...

[1]: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/travel-in-london-2025-consolidate...

[2]: https://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/corporate/en/investor/annual2...