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Light Rail Ridership: Low, But Rising Steadily
[caption id="attachment_12985" align="alignleft" width="261" caption="The morning commute"]
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Seattle Transit Blog has the scoop on Link Light Rail's ridership numbers for the first six weeks of service. (Light rail opened July 18).
The takeaway: During a typical light-rail trip, about a third of the trains' 148 seats are full.
The slightly longer version: During an average weekday in August, Link carried 14,437 riders, up about 2,000 from July. On Saturdays, ridership is actually higher (15,089 in August), and on Sundays, it's lower (11,620). Those numbers make Link the highest route in the region's transit system, but are still only about two thirds of the way to Sound Transit's pre-opening projection of 21,000 riders a day by the end of 2009.
The caveats: Those numbers represent an average over an entire day of service, including early mornings and late nights. (Trains run from 5 am to 1 am). Ridership during commuting hours, obviously, is higher. The numbers represent only the first six weeks of service, when people are still getting used to taking the system and/or switching from Metro routes. And light rail to the airport hasn't opened yet; when it does, those numbers will likely jump.
Details (and a lively, wonkarrific comments thread) over at STB .
[/caption]Seattle Transit Blog has the scoop on Link Light Rail's ridership numbers for the first six weeks of service. (Light rail opened July 18).
The takeaway: During a typical light-rail trip, about a third of the trains' 148 seats are full.
The slightly longer version: During an average weekday in August, Link carried 14,437 riders, up about 2,000 from July. On Saturdays, ridership is actually higher (15,089 in August), and on Sundays, it's lower (11,620). Those numbers make Link the highest route in the region's transit system, but are still only about two thirds of the way to Sound Transit's pre-opening projection of 21,000 riders a day by the end of 2009.
The caveats: Those numbers represent an average over an entire day of service, including early mornings and late nights. (Trains run from 5 am to 1 am). Ridership during commuting hours, obviously, is higher. The numbers represent only the first six weeks of service, when people are still getting used to taking the system and/or switching from Metro routes. And light rail to the airport hasn't opened yet; when it does, those numbers will likely jump.
Details (and a lively, wonkarrific comments thread) over at STB .
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