Another three months has passed, so it’s time for another LACMTA bus ridership update.
First, the raw data. Highlighted cells represent the top 10 months for that route (since January 2009).
Here are the 12-month rolling averages.
Here’s the Saturday and Sunday rolling 12-month averages.
Saturday and Sunday ridership largely reflects the weekday trends.
Unfortunately, most lines have continued to see slight decreases in ridership. The exception is the Silver Line, where ridership continues to grow. There’s also been a leveling off of ridership on Vermont and Western, so maybe things will start to turn around.
Lastly, here’s the percentage of trips on each arterial being served by the rapid route.
The share of riders served by the rapid routes continues to slowly rise on most corridors. Again, I wouldn’t read too much into the spikes in Venice and Santa Monica data, because they were caused by large drops in local route ridership on those streets. However, it is interesting that the rapid routes were more resilient to ridership changes – the ridership losses came disproportionately from local routes.
As always, it’s hard to say what’s causing ridership changes. Possibilities include the improving economy making cars more affordable, cheaper gas, and Metro’s recent fare increase.
Next up, Valley bus ridership, and then Metrolink.
Let's Go LA 
I wonder if the broad, slight general decline in transit ridership is coming from the same factors that are bring about lower auto VMT as well. Prime suspects are more telecommuting, ecommerce reducing shopping trips, and aging population reducing their travel.
I hear a lot theories about people shifting back and forth between transit and cars. But it seems to be the general trend on all modes (except bikes!) is down. I suspect we are really seeing a culture wide lowering of the amount of daily travel people are doing. If true, it could be very good for us in some ways. But it may have some bad effects for transit.