Another three months has passed, so it’s (belatedly) time for another LACMTA rail ridership update. I’m splitting out the bus ridership into a separate post, and will also be putting together a post for bus routes in the San Fernando Valley.
First, the raw data. Highlighted cells represent the top 10 months for that line (since January 2009).
The January data is very suspicious; there’s no way the Green Line dropped that low in one month, and the Blue & Expo are questionable too. Weekday ridership for February was available and the Green Line bounced back to almost 40,000, so not sure what’s going on there. The Gold and Expo Lines continue to be near all-time high ridership for weekdays and weekends.
Here’s the rolling 12-month average of weekday ridership:
The rolling 12-month graphic always provides the right context. Most lines are pretty flat, while Expo Line continues to creep up. The Red/Purple Line seems to have had a surge in 2013/2014 but fallen back. The relentless 20-minute headways during evening hours can’t help. We should also note that recent weakness in the Blue Line may be due to ongoing work, such as the shutdown of the Long Beach loop for track and station refurbishment.
Still, we’d probably hope for ridership to be growing a little faster. Maybe we could make it easier to build a ton of housing, office, and retail near high quality transit?
Here’s the Saturday and Sunday rolling 12-month averages.
And lastly, here’s the update for the rolling 12-month average of boardings per mile:
The Expo Line is still closing in on the Blue Line in that graph, but it’s going to have to see a surge in ridership this spring to keep rising in the 12-month average, having broken 30,000 riders in May 2014. For now, we patiently wait for the Gold Line and Expo Line extensions to open. (My prediction: Gold Line will make boardings per mile fall, Expo Line will make boardings per mile rise.)
Stay tuned for bus and Metrolink ridership.
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