Here’s the latest Metro ridership estimates for September 2012. The Blue Line and Orange Line set ridership records in September while the new Expo Line went north of 20,000 average weekday boardings for the first time. Bus ridership is slightly up over the past two Septembers.
Bus Ridership Estimates
Bus – Directly Operated
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 1,136,819 | 1,129,920 | 1,111,510 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 736,160 | 738,461 | 730,017 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 548,019 | 541,698 | 534,317 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 28,568,475 | 29,390,654 | 28,933,363 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Bus – Contract
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 48,755 | 46,248 | 46,392 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 26,968 | 24,557 | 24,555 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 20,212 | 18,796 | 18,895 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,182,449 | 1,163,413 | 1,166,932 |
Bus – Systemwide
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 1,185,574 | 1,176,168 | 1,157,902 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 763,128 | 763,018 | 754,572 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 568,231 | 560,494 | 553,212 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 29,750,924 | 30,554,067 | 30,100,295 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Orange Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 31,787 | 26,883 | 25,052 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 18,542 | 15,327 | 14,125 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 13,717 | 11,521 | 10,306 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 778,965 | 683,456 | 634,122 |
Silver Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 12,197 | 10,414 | 7,741 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 4,757 | 3,852 | 2,788 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 3,109 | 2,454 | 2,018 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 274,182 | 246,372 | 183,803 |
Rail Ridership Estimates
Red/Purple Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 155,940 | 152,706 | 148,214 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 91,739 | 96,760 | 100,936 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 81,113 | 76,175 | 81,065 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 3,908,229 | 3,974,747 | 3,921,561 |
Blue Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 92,120 | 83,385 | 82,542 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 66,900 | 58,990 | 52,018 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 59,554 | 48,791 | 49,006 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 2,442,106 | 2,230,998 | 2,186,484 |
Blue Line estimates do not include Expo boardings.
Expo Line
| Sep. 2012 | |||
| Average Weekday Boardings | 20,656 | ||
| Average Saturday Boardings | 12,953 | ||
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 12,142 | ||
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 530,070 |
Green Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 46,393 | 44,831 | 42,273 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 28,889 | 23,040 | 24,171 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 17,122 | 18,313 | 18,303 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,128,647 | 1,125,183 | 1,075,925 |
Gold Line
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 41,987 | 37,938 | 35,649 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 23,115 | 24,050 | 24,195 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 16,835 | 18,959 | 19,507 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,014,343 | 987,691 | 942,949 |
Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 357,096 | 318,861 | 308,678 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 223,595 | 202,840 | 201,319 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 186,766 | 162,238 | 167,881 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 9,023,394 | 8,318,619 | 8,126,920 |
Includes Expo Line ridership.
Systemwide Ridership Estimates
| Sep. 2012 | Sep. 2011 | Sep. 2010 | |
| Average Weekday Boardings | 1,542,669 | 1,495,029 | 1,466,580 |
| Average Saturday Boardings | 986,724 | 965,857 | 955,891 |
| Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 754,997 | 722,731 | 721,093 |
| Total Calendar Month Boardings | 38,774,318 | 38,872,686 | 38,227,215 |
Categories: Policy & Funding
Cody,
OTOH, Metro’s stupid fare structures also dissuade others from taking public transit. Metro is not for everybody. For anything under 10 miles, it’s still cheaper to drive. If anything, more people are also seeking other transportation means like motorcycling and scooter riding. Cost per mile, they get way better deal than taking public transit.
I am hoping these outrageous gas prices will keep ridership rising. I have taken the subway in LA since I moved here in 2001 and every time gas prices have soared so have the number of people taking public transportation. However, each time it happens and the gas prices return to a more acceptable level I have noticed not everybody goes back to there car. Perhaps its because they realized taking public transportation in Los Angeles is possible and how fun it can be (when taking it out to socialize). As much as an outcast as it will make me by saying this, I look forward to high gas prices as I think it is going to take a painful scenario to pull people out of their cars. Anybody else interested in trying to promote public transport in LA, please visit my organization, Riding Green, at http://www.ridinggreenla.com. Any comments and support are always welcomed, especially in the form of liking Riding Green on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/greenridersla
Silver line ridership will fall with the new silver 2 silver bus service…
I was surprised to see that the monthly ridership total went down from 2011 to 2012 (from 38.87M to 38.77M), then I realized that there were five full weekends in September this year, so ridership for each individual day is actually up this year.
It’s nice to see that Expo passed the 20,000 rider plateau so soon. I’m surprised that Saturday ridership isn’t higher, given that USC had two Saturday football games in September, and Metro announced 8,000 people used Expo to get to the games, which equates to 16,000 extra riders on each of those Saturdays (assuming each rider makes two trips).
It may seem like ridership is down when you look at the monthly comparison between 2012 and 2011, but, examining calendar month statistics is always a bit tricky. Sept 2012 was a month with 10 weekend days and 20 weekdays. Sept 2011 had 8 weekend days and 22 weekdays. The average weekly ridership is a better measure. The weekly ridership (5 times weekday + Saturday + Sunday) is up to 9,455,000 in 2012 from 9,164,000 in 2011.