Metro overall ridership in January rises slightly over previous January

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The January ridership numbers for Metro are below.

The basic breakdown: overall Metro ridership is slightly up compared to Jan. 2012 (1,445,601 avg. weekday boardings compared to 1,408,380), rail ridership is significantly up from Jan. 2012 (358,967 avg. weekday boardings compared to 335,108 boardings last year) and bus ridership is slightly down (1,086,63 average weekday boardings compared to 1,101,282).

Expo Line ridership continues to climb with 24,175 weekday boardings in January, up from 23,193 boardings in December. Here are graphics showing ridership trends on Orange Line, Silver Line and all Metro Rail lines.

As for outside factors on ridership, New Year’s Day was on a Tuesday this year compared to a Sunday in 2012 — perhaps not as many people worked the first week of January this year. Weather-wise, this January was about the same as last year rain-wise — with not much precipitation.

Bus Ridership Estimates

Bus – Directly Operated

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 1,045,108 1,058,236 1,045,828
Average Saturday Boardings 694,822 683,259 708,938
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 504,733 511,924 456,199
Total Calendar Month Boardings 28,295,329 28,027,536 27,535,334

Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.

Bus – Contract

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 41,526 43,046 41,074
Average Saturday Boardings 24,194 22,752 23,810
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 16,105 16,935 14,681
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,090,871 1,096,584 1,045,886

Bus – Systemwide

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 1,086,634 1,101,282 1,086,902
Average Saturday Boardings 719,016 706,011 732,748
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 520,838 528,859 470,880
Total Calendar Month Boardings 29,386,200 29,124,120 28,581,220

Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.

Orange Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 26,162 23,050 21,116
Average Saturday Boardings 16,488 13,999 13,082
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 12,357 10,777 9,271
Total Calendar Month Boardings 703,301 604,708 551,390

Silver Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 12,422 10,601 8,049
Average Saturday Boardings 4,847 3,815 2,800
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 3,159 2,512 1,701
Total Calendar Month Boardings 308,467 252,953 190,435

Rail Ridership Estimates

Red/Purple Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 158,328 144,854 143,634
Average Saturday Boardings 89,906 84,848 91,154
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 81,175 74,037 68,127
Total Calendar Month Boardings 4,248,725 3,825,552 3,789,697

Blue Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 88,846 78,515 79,709
Average Saturday Boardings 55,857 58,344 49,464
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 55,515 50,849 40,998
Total Calendar Month Boardings 2,455,624 2,187,283 2,117,728

Blue Line estimates do not include Expo boardings.

Expo Line

Jan. 2013
Average Weekday Boardings 24,175
Average Saturday Boardings 17,534
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 14,501
Total Calendar Month Boardings 674,496    

Green Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 45,141 42,600 40,891
Average Saturday Boardings 26,943 21,900 24,105
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 19,995 18,832 17,405
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,200,855 1,095,196 1,059,557

Gold Line

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 42,476 41,129 33,947
Average Saturday Boardings 22,286 25,893 22,705
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 15,077 23,426 22,633
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,099,009 1,107,839 939,501

Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 358,967 307,098 298,180
Average Saturday Boardings 212,526 190,986 187,428
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 186,264 167,143 149,163
Total Calendar Month Boardings 9,678,709 8,215,869 7,906,482

Includes Expo Line ridership.

Systemwide Ridership Estimates

Jan. 2013 Jan. 2012 Jan. 2011
Average Weekday Boardings 1,445,601 1,408,380 1,385,083
Average Saturday Boardings 931,543 896,997 920,177
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 707,101 696,002 620,044
Total Calendar Month Boardings 39,064,909 37,339,989 36,487,702

Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects

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8 replies ›

  2. It would be interesting, now that over a year has passed, to see how late night Metro Rail every ten minutes (the days there isn’t construction) is working. Because of all that construction, and equivalent lack of connecting bus service, I’m a little skeptical that it is a good use of money.

  3. Expo already past Silver and almost even with Orange. And those lines are twice as long at Expo. Way to go Expo !

  4. I wonder why July 2011 is such a peak high for rail but a low for buses. Do people not like to ride buses when it’s hot?

  6. January 2012 weekday rail ridership looks like 307,098 in the chart. Where does the 335,108 number come from?

  7. EXPO LINE Total Calendar Month Boardings 674,496 for Jan 2013 Boy and some folks, Think it was a wast of time to build the line I guess they were wrong just think what the numbers will be in 2015 when phase-2 is finished

  8. It is interesting to see that the Orange and Silver lines show a marked regular seasonal pattern. Looks like the Expo line is not hurting overall ridership. Once Expo phase II opens up it should jump even more.