Here are the latest ridership numbers across the Metro system.
The average weekday ridership for the Blue Line (92,006 boardings) and the new Expo Line (19,776) were the highest ever. The Orange Line had its second-best average to date (27,513) and the Green Line its third-best month ever (45,536).
Below are the July numbers, which on the rail side are tabulated over the prior several months and then crunched to come up with the monthly numbers:
Bus – Directly Operated
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
1,074,951 |
1,048,258 |
1,050,267 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
723,663 |
728,213 |
725,903 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
552,120 |
547,722 |
538,147 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
29,827,005 |
29,213,674 |
28,700,221 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Bus – Contract
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
45,836 |
41,327 |
42,870 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
26,702 |
24,266 |
24,838 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
20,881 |
18,727 |
18,660 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
1,244,551 |
1,122,490 |
1,135,790 |
Bus – Systemwide
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
1,120,787 |
1,089,585 |
1,093,137 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
750,365 |
752,479 |
750,741 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
573,001 |
566,449 |
556,807 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
31,071,556 |
30,336,164 |
29,836,011 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Orange Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
27,513 |
22,977 |
21,694 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
17,776 |
14,187 |
13,880 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
13,601 |
11,420 |
10,666 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
758,307 |
630,899 |
586,118 |
Silver Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
11,449 |
9,730 |
7,487 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
4,441 |
3,825 |
2,811 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
3,168 |
2,517 |
1,919 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
293,763 |
249,158 |
185,553 |
Rail Ridership Estimates
Red/Purple Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
154,025 |
159,302 |
150,435 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
90,817 |
100,728 |
101,190 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
79,423 |
80,785 |
82,843 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
4,223,540 |
4,389,998 |
4,128,552 |
Blue Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
92,006 |
82,189 |
81,126 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
65,686 |
57,645 |
52,018 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
54,087 |
47,924 |
49,006 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
2,595,229 |
2,312,624 |
2,237,870 |
Blue Line estimates do not include Expo boardings.
Expo Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
|
|
Average Weekday Boardings |
19,776 |
|
|
Average Saturday Boardings |
12,569 |
|
|
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
10,722 |
|
|
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
548,009 |
|
|
Green Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
45,536 |
43,373 |
41,172 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
27,291 |
23,058 |
23,094 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
16,143 |
18,901 |
17,910 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
1,221,076 |
1,165,424 |
1,087,718 |
Gold Line
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
42,125 |
39,598 |
35,247 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
21,050 |
24,460 |
24,269 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
17,075 |
20,868 |
21,157 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
1,121,376 |
1,092,062 |
978,287 |
Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
353,469 |
324,462 |
307,980 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
217,413 |
205,890 |
200,571 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
177,450 |
168,478 |
170,915 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
9,709,229 |
8,960,107 |
8,432,426 |
Includes Expo Line ridership.
Systemwide Ridership Estimates
|
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Aug. 2010 |
Average Weekday Boardings |
1,474,255 |
1,414,047 |
1,401,117 |
Average Saturday Boardings |
967,778 |
958,370 |
951,312 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings |
750,451 |
734,927 |
727,723 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings |
40,780,785 |
39,296,271 |
38,268,437 |
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Scott: That’s a good question regarding the subway (Red/Purple Line) ridership. Based on my research of long-term ridership trends, it looks there was an unusual spike in subway ridership last summer, with two of the top four ridership months in subway history, but that spike wasn’t repeated this summer. This could be a result of fluctuations in fuel prices, but it is strange that the subway ridership seems to be more volatile than the overall MTA system, which included light rail and bus.
When I review the monthly estimates I see a lot of unusual “noise” in the MTA rail ridership. Remember that these really are estimates, since Metro has an open gate policy at rail stations. I assume that Metro is trying to revise their estimation methodology as they close the gates throughout the system. My guess is that a lot of the noise will continue to occur until the system is fully closed, and Metro can be more confident about their ridership counts.
Why has Red/purple dipped so much? It dipped in July of this year as well. Can anyone explain why this is?
LOL Matt! I sent a message to the authors of the Reason articles, suggesting that this would be a good time to write a follow-up article about Expo ridership. I mentioned that this might be their last chance to claim that the ridership is falling short of the (year 2020) ridership forecasts published in the EIS. No response so far.
In a related story, Reason is issuing a full retraction of their article blasting Expo ridership that was based on the second day of operations.
(waiting for you all to stop laughing…)
(still waiting…)
[…] August was a great month for Metro’s bus and rail service. In addition to good news for Expo, the Green Line saw its third highest number of weekday […]
The ramp-up of ridership on Expo is especially impressive when compared to the Gold Line. The initial segment of the Gold Line (which is significantly longer than the Expo Line: 14 miles vs. 8 miles) – took almost five years to reach an average daily ridership of 20,000, a threshhold that Expo is set to reach in less than five months. I can only imagine the ridership that Expo will achieve once Phase II is completed to connect Santa Monica to downtown LA. I’ll be lucky to find a seat on my ride from Culver City to LA!
I’m very impressed by the ridership growth on the Expo Line, which has increased steadily from 11,000 in the first month (May) to almost 20,000 in August. I commute on Expo every day and I can attest to the signs of higher ridership, it is more and more uncommon to find an emty seat. I expect that September ridership will be even higher, maybe 22,000 per day, since classes have opened at USC.
There is some decline in Red/Purple Line Ridership. I wonder if its feeder bus routes sync better with the Red/Purple schedule during the off-peak hours would improve ridership. If more resources are put into both the Silver & Orange Lines, Red/Purple line ridership will increase as well.
I’m doing a study on how people travel within urban areas and urban planning.
Is there anyway to get an average distance Metro buses riders travel versus Metro rail riders? I want to know:
1. What the average distance a person travels on mass transit
2. Relationship between average distance traveled by those on buses versus rail
3. Using that data, is there a better way to dynamically price fares based on travel distance
Where can we get Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates for 2011, or for each month of 2011?
Some Rapid Bus are pretty good, like Santa Monica Rapid 7. Some still operates like local bus with lots of stops, such as Santa Monica Rapid 12. These issue will have an impact to the overall ridership.