Time for an update on Metrolink ridership, including FY15Q1 (July-September 2014) data. Here’s the breakdown of data by stations.
Here’s the update of the rolling 12-month averages, broken down by line.
Ridership continues to be on a troubling downward trend.
Here’s a look at the top 10 and bottom 10 stations for ridership gained (or lost) over the period from June 2010 to September 2014 (all based on rolling 12-month averages). The top 10 and bottom 10 stations are unchanged, except for Anaheim Canyon entering the top 10 and Fullerton dropping out, and Rancho Cucamonga entering the bottom 10 and Via Princessa dropping out. These are both bad changes, because Fullerton and Rancho Cucamonga are higher ridership stations than Anaheim Canyon and Via Princessa.
Since June 2010, 43 of the 54 stations (excluding LA Union Station) have lost ridership, up from 42 of 54 at the last update. Fullerton has now gone from having an increase in ridership to a loss. 17 stations have lost more than 20% of their ridership in the last 4 years, up from 12 at the last update. With the exception of Pomona Downtown, every station that’s gained ridership is either in Orange County or on the 91/OC-IE Lines.
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I wonder if Foothill transit has some effect in taking most the traffic from the San Bernardino line. They have many routes that are more direct to Metrolink’s stations (at least up to Montclair). Exploring their ridership may explain some of the drop.
The same may be true with other transit providers (like Omnitrans, OCTA, and Riverside Transit). Duplicate, cheaper routes would kill Metrolink’s ridership (especially if they are more frequent).
I wonder if Metrolink’s managed to hit the sweet spot of terrible pricing (page 81 for how it’s double optimal price), terrible frequencies, and terrible reliability. Certainly the increase in TVM failures isn’t helping them any.
Broken link
I’m curious to see how weekend ridership is doing- any data on that?
I took the orange county line this weekend and I was surprised by how many people were on the train. A solid 100+ getting off at union staiton
Unfortunately, the only data published on their website is weekday boardings.
Years ago Metrolink published daily ridership for each train, by month, on their web site. They still produce this information as an internal document.
Foothill Transit is definitely hurting Metrolink, with their reasonable fares, ample parking, and TAP accessibility. Again, although they collect service data, they don’t publish it on their web site. However, one of the deliverables of the Comprehensive Operational Analysis is detailed ridership information and recommendations.
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