UPDATE: Post corrected below in bold, 4:20 p.m. I need to double-check the Red/Purple Line ridership with Metro staff in the morning.
Both the Red/Purple Line and the Expo Line had their best months yet, with 164,081 and 27,280 average weekday boardings, respectively — slightly higher than their previous bests (see the graphs above). The Expo Line had its best month yet with 27,280 average weekday boardings and the Red/Purple Line had its second best month with 164,081 boardings. The Gold Line had its third best month with 44,451 average weekday boardings; the numbers for the Gold Line were a tad higher in both June and July of 2012.
While the bus system had more boardings than August in the previous two years, ridership on the Metro bus system remains flat.
Overall, August 2013 was a strong month for ridership with 41.22 million boardings on Metro buses and trains. That was higher than the previous two Augusts — there were 39.29 million boardings in Aug. 2011 and 40.78 million boardings in Aug. 2012. Ridership on Metro tends to fluctuate depending on the seasons and calendar (i.e. how many weekdays there are in any given month).
Graphs showing the last two years of ridership numbers for individual rail lines and the bus system are above and more precise numbers for August in the past three years is below.
Bus Ridership Estimates
Bus – Directly Operated
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 1,088,003 | 1,074,951 | 1,048,258 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 739,531 | 723,663 | 728,213 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 564,750 | 552,120 | 547,722 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 29,892,721 | 29,827,005 | 29,213,674 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Bus – Contract
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 52,295 | 45,836 | 41,327 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 31,088 | 26,702 | 24,266 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 23,458 | 20,881 | 18,727 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,399,762 | 1,244,551 | 1,122,490 |
Bus – Systemwide
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 1,140,298 | 1,120,787 | 1,089,585 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 770,619 | 750,365 | 752,479 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 588,208 | 573,001 | 566,449 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 31,292,483 | 31,071,556 | 30,336,164 |
Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.
Orange Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 28,101 | 27,513 | 22,977 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 17,678 | 17,776 | 14,187 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 14,269 | 13,601 | 11,420 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 763,688 | 758,307 | 630,899 |
Silver Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 12,597 | 11,449 | 9,730 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 5,379 | 4,441 | 3,825 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 3,951 | 3,168 | 2,517 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 319,833 | 293,763 | 249,158 |
Rail Ridership Estimates
Red/Purple Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 164,081 | 154,025 | 159,302 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 107,995 | 90,817 | 100,728 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 74,028 | 79,423 | 80,785 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 4,445,878 | 4,223,540 | 4,389,998 |
Blue Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 87,723 | 92,006 | 82,189 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 60,840 | 65,686 | 57,645 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 48,487 | 54,087 | 47,924 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 2,428,066 | 2,595,229 | 2,312,624 |
Blue Line estimates do not include Expo boardings.
Expo Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | ||
Average Weekday Boardings | 27,280 | 19,776 | |
Average Saturday Boardings | 20,063 | 12,569 | |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 15,014 | 10,722 | |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 760,524 | 548,009 |
Green Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 42,593 | 45,536 | 43,373 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 27,691 | 27,291 | 23,058 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 16,142 | 16,143 | 18,901 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,140,066 | 1,221,076 | 1,165,424 |
Gold Line
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 44,451 | 42,125 | 39,598 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 21,506 | 21,050 | 24,460 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 19,033 | 17,075 | 20,868 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 1,161,576 | 1,121,376 | 1,092,062 |
Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 366,128 | 353,469 | 324,462 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 238,096 | 217,413 | 205,890 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 172,704 | 177,450 | 168,478 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 9,936,110 | 9,709,229 | 8,960,107 |
Includes Expo Line ridership.
Systemwide Ridership Estimates
Aug. 2013 | Aug. 2012 | Aug. 2011 | |
Average Weekday Boardings | 1,506,426 | 1,474,255 | 1,414,047 |
Average Saturday Boardings | 1,008,715 | 967,778 | 958,370 |
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings | 760,912 | 750,451 | 734,927 |
Total Calendar Month Boardings | 41,228,593 | 40,780,785 | 39,296,271 |
Includes Expo Line ridership.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects
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To address the lower ridership on the Green Line, Metro needs to connect both ends of the line. (i.e. LAX, South Bay Galleria and Norwalk Metro Link Station. This line (and the I-105). goes nowhere on both ends.
I question the Red Line data. Weekdays are up about 3% (over two years) and Saturdays are up about 7% but Sundays are down about 9%? That’s a huge drop that makes no apparent sense. The line has lost almost 10% of its Sunday riders in two years? When every other day has gained riders?
This is fantastic news. And these numbers are presumably based on TAP card data? Does anyone have a sense for how much higher the numbers would be if the free riders were accounted for?
[…] http://thesource.metro.net/2013/09/11/metros-august-ridership-two-rail-lines-reach-new-all-time-high… […]
[…] Metro ridership numbers show strong rail growth in August Interesting to see how fast the Expo Line has become popular. It's already beat it's ridership estimates for 2020! Metro’s August ridership estimates: Expo Line reaches new high, Red/Purple Line have second-be… […]
God forbid, the MTA acknowledge an INCREASE in bus ridership! It might mean they might ACTUALLY HAVE TO CONSIDER INCREASING BUS SERVICE!
Great news on the Expo Line! I can attest to the increase in ridership as the Culver City station parking lot is now completely full by about noon on weekdays. Today it was full, with additional cars illegally parked and more cars searching around for a spot.
You forgot to mention that the Expo Line reached a major milestone in August: for the first time ever the average weekday ridership (27,280) surpasses the official ridership forecast for the Phase 1 alignment (27,000). Of course, this milestone was reached seven years ahead of schedule, since the official forecast was for ridership in the year 2020.
The Red Line had it’s second best month yet.
Steve,
You might want to double check those Red Line numbers. July 2011 had 171,163 average weekday riders. Thats per my spreadsheet, and also shows on the link to your ridership statistics page.
Robert
Hi Robert;
I’ll send your comment along to our ridership staff. Thanks for pointing out!
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
YAY!