Here’s our ridership update for January and all of 2024; boardings continue to grow

We had almost 25.4 million boardings on Metro’s buses and trains in January. That’s a five percent increase over Jan. 2024 boardings and the 26th straight month of year-over-year ridership gains as we continue to recover from the pandemic. 

Weekend ridership in January exceeded pre-pandemic ridership for January 2019, up 2.2 percent on Saturdays and 1.5 percent on Sundays, respectively. Overall ridership was 83 percent of its pre-pandemic levels. 

That’s the trend we’ve been seeing the last couple years with weekends recovering more quickly than weekdays, when telecommuting means not as many people commuting. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that about 15 percent of workers in L.A. County worked from home in 2023 (the latest numbers available) compared to about six percent in 2019.

January also saw the tragic wind storm and wildfires that struck our region and impacted some of our service. Bus Lines 660 and 662 are still running modified routes in Altadena as is Line 602 on the Westside due to the Palisades Fire. Line 134 resumed running on PCH to/from Malibu today — for the first time since Jan. 7, the day the fires began. 

In response to the fires, the Metro Board modified eligibility for our reduced fare programs, making it easier for wildfire victims to access essential resources and rebuild. Metro’s LIFE team was present at numerous wildfire relief events in our region and assisted 2,089 riders. Click here to learn more and apply.

We also recently released our ridership for the entirety of 2024 when the number of boardings on Metro grew eight percent  — from 288 million in 2023 to 311 million. Last year was the first time ridership on Metro exceeded 300 million since prior to the pandemic when there were 373 million boardings in 2019.

A few other highlights from 2024: 

•In 2024, Metro surpassed one million average weekday boardings in September and October — the first time that threshold had been reached since early 2020 before safer-at-home orders. 

•Overall, weekday ridership on Metro grew 8.7 percent and weekend weekend ridership grew 5.8 percent.

•Our GoPass program had almost 19.7 million boardings in ’24 — up from 17.7 percent in 2023 (11 percent increase). GoPass provides free rides to K-12 and community college students at participating schools. Learn more

•Our LIFE Program had almost 20.9 million boardings in ’24 compared to 16.4 million in ’23. LIFE provides free and discounted fares to qualified low-income residents. Learn more

We think improved public safety efforts were a major driver of ridership gains. In 2024, Metro made significant progress in its efforts to provide a safer, cleaner and more comfortable rider experience by:

•Working to ensure an engaged and visible presence of uniformed personnel on Metro buses and trains, including law enforcement, Metro Transit Security, and Metro Ambassadors.

•Enhancing access control by stepping up TAP inspections and trespasser checks and ensuring, to the greatest extent possible, that our system is only used for its intended purpose: transportation.

•Strengthening our partnerships to address societal issues that affect Metro, like homelessness, untreated mental illness and addiction.

In 2024 we also: 

•Tested weapons detection systems to prevent riders from carrying weapons on Metro. (The Metro Board on Thursday approved extending the pilot program; here’s the motion). 

•Started keeping train doors closed at end-of-line stations until one minute prior to departure to ensure all riders exit trains. Similarly, we began keeping elevator doors in key stations to discourage illegal and inappropriate uses of those spaces.

•Launched a new version of our Transit Watch app so riders can share what they observe with Metro security 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One upgrade: the app now lets riders communicate with us in 14 languages.

•Continued work to improve lighting at stations and upgrade CCTV cameras. 

•Retrofitted our entire active bus fleet with expanded barriers to better protect our bus operators — so they can safely get everyone where they need to go. 

Thank you to everyone for riding and your interest in good public transit. We have a lot in the works coming soon for riders including: our new LAX/Metro Transit Center station serving the C and K Lines and local buses; the A Line extension to Pomona, and; the first section of the D Line Extension to the Miracle Mile and Wilshire/La Cienega Station.