Metro ridership remains strong as gas prices fall

Metro, aka the MTA, just released its statistics for September ridership. It appears the number of people on all the rail lines and the bus lines has remained high, even as gas prices have fallen by as much as a $1 a gallon from their summertime peaks. But only the Orange Line set a new ridership record last month. -- Steve Hymon

Here's the press release from Metro:

LA METRO SYSTEM RIDERSHIP REMAINS STRONG, METRO ORANGE LINE HITS NEW RECORD

All bus and rail lines report year-over-year boarding increases

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) today announced that bus and rail ridership has remained strong on a year-over-year basis despite the continued reduction in local gasoline prices, with the Metro Orange Line reaching another ridership record and the Metro Gold Line logging a 30 percent increase in ridership.

At 27,987 average weekday boardings for September, the San Fernando Valley’s popular Metro Orange Line reached the highest boardings since the line opened in October 2005.  Average weekday boardings on the Metro Gold Line reached 25,511 in September, which is more than a 30 percent increase compared with September 2007.  Metro’s subway and Blue Line both experienced a nearly 10 percent increase in boardings, and Metro Green Line boardings grew by almost 12 percent.  Metro directly operated bus boardings jumped 6.3 percent during the same year-over-year period.

Specific line by line ridership figures (by average weekday boarding):

Metro Orange Line

Sept. 2007: 25,618

Sept. 2008: 27,987   

+9.25%

Metro Red/Purple Line

Sept. 2007: 136,355

Sept. 2008: 149,699

+9.79%

Metro Green Line

Sept. 2007: 40,576

Sept. 2008: 45,346

+11.75%

Metro Gold Line

Sept. 2007: 19,579

Sept. 2008: 25,511

+30.3%

Metro Blue Line

Sept. 2007: 77,834

Sept. 2008: 84,917

+9.1%

Directly Operated Bus Lines

Sept. 2007: 1,179,359

Sept. 2008: 1,253,620

+6.3%

The increases come in spite of the recent reductions in the price of gasoline, which have retreated from all-time highs earlier this year.

The increased ridership is a strong indication that L.A.’s public transit system continues to be a low-cost transportation solution for more Angelenos faced with a troubled economy.  The fare to ride Metro bus and rail lines is only $62 a month, or $744 a year.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) last week reported that a person living in Los Angeles could save $856 per month, or $10,268 per year by taking public transit instead of driving based on current gas prices and parking rates.  APTA’s report reveals how much a person can save by taking public transportation and living with one less car in his or her household.

For additional information about Metro and its transportation services, visit WWW.METRO.NET.  For transit trip planning assistance over the phone, call 1-800-COMMUTE.

Comments

[aullman]

Hopefully people will continue to look to alternative commuting options. It is important for the economy and the future.

Beside mass transit, employers and employees need to pursue options for working remotely. Rather than commute (by car or mass transit), many office workers can work from a remote office near where they live.

Remote Office Centers lease individual offices, internet and phone systems to workers from different companies in shared centers located around the city and suburbs, so that workers can commute via the internet rather than car and bus.

Not everyone can work remotely, but all commuters will benefit from less cars on the roads and less overall demand for oil.

ROCs are fairly new, but can be found in many cities by searching the internet for "Remote Office Centers" in quotes.

Most any office or industrial park can be converted into an ROC, so as demand increases, so will facilities.

[calwatch]

Go on the MTA web site and pick up the Operations Committee board agenda. They publish the numbers every month so you can take them from there.

[Rubber Toe]

Steve,
Any idea why the MTA web site still only has the July 2008 numbers up while never having updated the August numbers? I check you September blog posts and never found a similar post concerning the August ridership data.

I keep a spreadsheet of the data month to month, so if you could post a link to the August numbers or provide them here it would be much appreciated.

RT