Related Articles
Sound Transit just released its ridership figures for its first full week of operation. See press release below.
ST estimates its light rail segment carried 12,000 riders per weekday.This figure however, represents the number of trips, not riders, served by Sound Transit. And trips do not equal riders.
For example, a rider who makes a round trip commute to and from workcounts as two trips. If that same rider took a bus to lunch and back,he counts as making four total trips during the day.
Because daily trips can double, triple and sometimes quadruple countthe same individual, trips should be adjusted to estimate uniqueriders. The standard assumption is that single riders will equal 45percent of trips. To look at it another way, 45 percent assumes lessthan half of total trips in a day will be the same person making around trip. This does not capture all of the double counting of asingle rider, but it is closer to accurately estimating how manydifferent individuals will ride a transit system.
This means Sound Transit's light rail segment is only carrying about 6,600 individual people per day. Sound Transit also estimates that two-thirds of these people come from the existing bus service. So in reality, light rail is only carrying the equivalent of 2,200 new transit riders per day.
The cost to provide this service: $2.3 billion. I'll let you do the math.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — July 30, 2009
Strongridership during first week of Link light rail service
Linkproves popular option for special events
During its first week ofregular service Central Link light rail carried an estimated average of 12,000riders each weekday. Another estimated 16,900 riders took Link on Saturday and15,100 on Sunday.
“We'reencouraged by the large numbers of people who boarded light rail on openingweekend and have started using it every day," said Sound Transit BoardChair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "This is a new way to thinkabout getting around our region and we know ridership will continue to increaseas more people try the system and we expand the line to more communities."
Nationally, ridership on newlight rail systems ramps up over time as more and more people find out aboutthe service and give it a try. Weekday ridership during the first week wasalready more than halfway to the level Sound Transit projections show for theend of 2009.
Sound Transit projects thatby the end of 2009 an average of 21,000 riders will climb aboard on weekdays.Average weekday ridership is forecasted to rise to 26,600 in 2010 following theDecember 2009 opening of light rail service directly to Sea-Tac International Airport.
Last weekend’s Sounders FCand Seattle Mariners games, the Seattle Seafair Torchlight Parade and peopleturning out to try Link for the first time contributed to last weekend’s strongridership. More than 11,000 tickets or ORCA cards were sold from Link ticketvending machines on Saturday and station agents sold another 1,400 papertickets to overflow crowds at Tukwila. Sound Transit has doubled the number ofticket vending machines in Tukwila and reminds riders that buying an ORCA smartcard is a great way to bypass lines.
Coming up, Sound Transit ispreparing for another busy weekend with Seafair running free shuttles from theOthello light rail station to the hydroplane course and air show on Lake Washington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Sound Transit estimates itslight rail ridership using automatic passenger counting technology installed onsome of the vehicles. Infrared sensors in the trains’ doorways detect boardingsand alightings, generating data that is used to develop estimates consistentwith Federal Transit Administration-approved methods.
Link light rail opened 14miles of new service between downtown Seattle
CONTACT: Bruce Gray—(206) 398-5069 or bruce.gray@soundtransit.org
Linda Robson—(206) 398-5149or linda.robson@soundtransit.org
Geoff Patrick—(206)398-5313 or geoff.patrick@soundtransit.org
Sound Transit plans, builds andoperates regional transit systems and services to improve mobility for Central Puget Sound