MetroLink Ridership
Ridership Numbers Continue to Climb on MetroLink
Numbers for the first week of MetroLink passenger service that includes the new Shrewsbury Branch are in. Here’s a comparison that looks at average daily ridership last August, actual ridership Monday, August 21st, and actual ridership August 28th through September 1st on MetroLink.
Average August Weekday 2005: 44, 133;
Actual Ridership August 29, 2006: 75, 876 Boardings *
Actual Ridership August 30, 2006: 75, 633 Boardings *
Actual Ridership August 31, 2006: 76, 421 Boardings *
Actual Ridership September 1, 2006: 80, 677 Boardings *
*Note: Data includes baseball game
“These early numbers are excellent, and we continue to be optimistic that we will become an attractive option for even more new riders,” says Ray Friem, Metro Senior Vice President of Transit Operations.
Friem also notes that bus ridership saw a 2,000 passenger jump the day the Shrewsbury Branch opened. “On an average day, MetroBus handles more than 108,000 boardings,” Friem notes. “On the first day of the new light rail service, MetroBus welcomed aboard 110,707 passengers. Early indications are that both bus and rail will benefit from the new MetroLink branch, and from the newly modified bus service.”
Based on research and public input, Metro significantly restructured its bus network over the last several months. The changes expand the reach and frequency of bus service, and substantially enhance transit service for the St. Louis region. “We have added 160,000 service miles per year on our bus routes,” Friem notes. “MetroLink is the spine of our system. MetroBus allows us to extend our reach.”
Numbers for the first week of MetroLink passenger service that includes the new Shrewsbury Branch are in. Here’s a comparison that looks at average daily ridership last August, actual ridership Monday, August 21st, and actual ridership August 28th through September 1st on MetroLink.
Average August Weekday 2005: 44, 133;
Actual Ridership August 29, 2006: 75, 876 Boardings *
Actual Ridership August 30, 2006: 75, 633 Boardings *
Actual Ridership August 31, 2006: 76, 421 Boardings *
Actual Ridership September 1, 2006: 80, 677 Boardings *
*Note: Data includes baseball game
“These early numbers are excellent, and we continue to be optimistic that we will become an attractive option for even more new riders,” says Ray Friem, Metro Senior Vice President of Transit Operations.
Friem also notes that bus ridership saw a 2,000 passenger jump the day the Shrewsbury Branch opened. “On an average day, MetroBus handles more than 108,000 boardings,” Friem notes. “On the first day of the new light rail service, MetroBus welcomed aboard 110,707 passengers. Early indications are that both bus and rail will benefit from the new MetroLink branch, and from the newly modified bus service.”
Based on research and public input, Metro significantly restructured its bus network over the last several months. The changes expand the reach and frequency of bus service, and substantially enhance transit service for the St. Louis region. “We have added 160,000 service miles per year on our bus routes,” Friem notes. “MetroLink is the spine of our system. MetroBus allows us to extend our reach.”
posted by CMT at 8:05 AM
7 Comments:
Where are you getting the numbers?
Interesting that bus ridership is still higher than rail. And I take it total Metro ridership is somewhere around 180,000 trips a day. I lived in the Washington, DC region 1999-2005, and while that region has about twice as many people as St. Louis, its daily transit ridership is about 1,200,000 (over 6 times St. Louis' level?). And with these Metrolink stations and TODs still offering rather a lot of (presumably free!) parking, St. Louis still has a LONG way to go.
Have there been any efforts to get Flexcar, Zipcar, or other car-sharing ventures off the ground in STL?
(CMT member roughly 8-9 years)
Bus ridership is higher than rail because buses make up the bulk of the metro system and there are only two rail lines although buses has bad public perception in saint louis as only being for the poor which is not true.
Buses to carry more people than MetroLink -- and generally represent the demographic of the neighborhoods that they serve.
The new #1 Gold line is a mixture of Washington University Students and Central West Enders for instance. But STMDQMW is right, the perception of St. Louisans is otherwise. How cand this be changed?
Well, some of the elements of BRT? Real time information available at stops, online, by phone and to palm pilots, etc. Signal prioritization to speed buses through intersections ahead of cars. Good on-time performance. Bike racks on all buses. Buses that are quieter and cleaner (inside and out--and safe of course). Stops that are protected from the weather and well-lit at night, and that universally provide accurate and complete fare, schedule, and route information. Bus-only lanes on roads and highways. Smart cards that work on both rail and buses (short of that, other off-vehicle fare collection, esp. that accepts credit and debit cards--check out the DC Circulator). Promotion of and dissemination of information on bus routes serving business corridors, workplaces, etc. Change the culture so when businesses offer directions, they don't just give driving directions but list the bus routes and rail stations they're near. Coupons and discounts at shops for transit riders to promote new routes--it's telling that cars are advertised very heavily while transit usually isn't at all. In Vancouver, they passed traffic laws requiring cars to yield to buses, then put ads to that effect on the buses saying, "Tell your car-driving friends at work...when they GET to work".
In short, buses have to be perceived as convenient, fast, safe, etc. And they have to work. They can't make people wait too long for a bus or take too long to get where they're going. As long as cars are faster, gas is relatively cheap and parking is free and easy, most people will still opt for them. (Thus changing the laws, signals, and physical design to prioritize transit, rather than trying to adapt transit to those other things)
Seattle only has buses, and the mentality surrounding them is totally different there. At root, I think you're encountering St. Louis' very old, very entrenched racism and classism. And there's no easy solution to that.
When I use MetroLink, with MetroBus, it has made it easier on my left foot due to that I don't have to walk as far to and from a bus or rail line. I ride the #56 to the Sunnen station in Maplewood on the Maplewood/Webster Groves border. Then I normally take MetroLink to Clayton to get my coffee at Starbucks. I am a big fan of Starbucks due to the TOD tour I went on in Dallas back in 1999. And now with the #58 playing "express bus" between the Brentwood station on Eager Road and the Ballas Transit Center, people has found a way to and from the Creve Coeur area across the street from the bus transfer center. With MetroLink's new Shrewsbury line, people are now getting to Creve Coeur much faster due to that they are riding on "high-speed" streetcars. We reallize that back in 1964, and in 1966, we really did a very stupid thing by taking the streetcars out of service in the first place. Back in the 1940s, you traveled down the right of way at around 30 to 40 miles an hour. Now days, you travel up to speeds of 55 miles an hour. Some PCC cars were so strong, they could cruise up to 70 miles an hour. If you visit the Museum of Transport, you might run into PCC car #1743. That car once held the assignment of the University Clayton line as well as many others.
Could it be that the 2000 passenger jump in bus ridership was actually "bus boardings"? A lot of people who used to be able to take only one bus to get to work prior to Aug. 28 now have to take two because of all the service cuts. The day after the new train line opened the Post-Dispatch had a front page photo of a woman from south county who had been taking two buses to her job but now has to take three buses and the Metrolink! So even tho there are a lot more BOARDINGS, it's still the same number of passengers. People are simply getting on & off more often.
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