Jolt
Afternoon Jolt: Light Rail Ridership
Today's winner: Sound Transit.
As if timed to coincide with today's ThinkTank (question: Is light rail on track?), Sound Transit released its latest ridership numbers today.
The good news for the light rail agency: Weekday ridership on Central Link Light Rail is up 24 percent over the first quarter last year---around 21,000 riders on an average weekday, compared to around 17,000 a year ago. Overall, the number of people boarding Central Link rail (including weekends and holidays) went up 19 percent.
Today's loser: Sound Transit.
The bad news: That increase is far below the ridership Sound Transit assumed in its budget (more riders equals more farebox revenue, which Sound Transit relies on to make its budget pencil out). So far this year, the number of boardings has fallen more than a third short of projections, or about 850,000 trips.
The overall picture for Sound Transit isn't much more promising: Ridership on Sound Transit's express bus service rose slightly, but not as much as projected, while ridership on Sounder commuter rail actually declined (the result, perhaps, of persistent mudslides that have repeatedly interrupted service to Everett).
As if timed to coincide with today's ThinkTank (question: Is light rail on track?), Sound Transit released its latest ridership numbers today.
The good news for the light rail agency: Weekday ridership on Central Link Light Rail is up 24 percent over the first quarter last year---around 21,000 riders on an average weekday, compared to around 17,000 a year ago. Overall, the number of people boarding Central Link rail (including weekends and holidays) went up 19 percent.
Today's loser: Sound Transit.
The bad news: That increase is far below the ridership Sound Transit assumed in its budget (more riders equals more farebox revenue, which Sound Transit relies on to make its budget pencil out). So far this year, the number of boardings has fallen more than a third short of projections, or about 850,000 trips.
The overall picture for Sound Transit isn't much more promising: Ridership on Sound Transit's express bus service rose slightly, but not as much as projected, while ridership on Sounder commuter rail actually declined (the result, perhaps, of persistent mudslides that have repeatedly interrupted service to Everett).
