![]()
|
Sound Transit's 2009 daily riders
average on Seattle
New information as of February 1, 2010: Sound Transit has made technical adjustments in previous counts after discovery of errors in the counting process. The new estimated daily weekday, non-holiday average count of boardings for 2009 is now reported as 15,546, formerly 14,910. Documentation of this change is here.
This page covers Seattle's new light rail passenger counts from the first day of revenue service July 20, 2009 through January 31, 2010. All train rides were free on the opening weekend July 18-19, and the ridership estimate counted by hand was 92,397, with a machine count of 66,792. These two free days are not included on the charts below.
On September 19, 2009, Metro bus routes were revised to drop off more customers at light rail stations, and ridership showed an uptick in the days following. October, 2009 average daily weekday boardings were 16,192, a new monthly high. That monthly average has not been exceeded in the subsequent three months. Following highs in October, ridership trended downward until December 19, when the Airport extension opened, and an upward trend manifested at the end of the year. Ridership then flattened in January at a level higher than the December average, as shown in the chart above. The overall average boardings per non-holiday weekday for all of 2009 since revenue service began was 15,546, which is 79% of the forecast of 19,800 Sound Transit established for 2009, as shown in the Central Link Operations Plan on Table 5-1, PDF page 38. The chart below shows only 2009 weekdays, non-holiday. In January 2010 the average weekday boarding count was 15,965, more than 14,913 the month before, but less than in the high established last October of 16,192.
On July 30, 2009, in a burst of enthusiasm, Sound Transit forecast 21,000 per day on Link light rail by year end. That number was reached once, on October 1, 2009 when a daily high of 21,374 was achieved. The best day in 2009 after the Airport extension opened was 19,972 on December 28. This daily number established in the Christmas holiday period has not yet been exceeded through the end of January. The next hope for increased ridership on Seattle's light rail has arrived now that the Metro 194 express bus in the same corridor (Seattle bus tunnel to SeaTac Airport) has been discontinued, as of February 6, 2010. New monthly ridership data releases will soon reveal the market response to this and other changes, and will be documented on revisions to this page.
|
|||||
Note: Sound Transit states that the daily readings charted on this page are estimates and subject to revision. Counting weekends and holidays above shows more daily variation than counting only normal week days. The lows on the chart above are generally Sundays and holidays, when fewer trains are running.
Below are the revised counts for the non-holiday weekday boardings through end of 2009. These counts on regular commuting days are of interest to the U.S. DOT, which requires periodic reporting from U.S. transit agencies. The red lines on the charts show the 15 day moving average.
Sound Transit uses photoelectric "beam" passenger sensors above the eight doors on ten of the 35 rail cars in service and then extrapolates to all the cars on all runs during a service day. This way of counting passenger rail boardings is standard in the U.S. transit industry. Following further revisions, numbers similar to the above will be Sound Transit's official report on passengers served provided to the public and U.S. Government.
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided by Sound Transit to PITF on August 20, 2009.
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on September 8, 2009.
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on October 5, 2009.
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on November 9, 2009
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on December 15, 2009
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on January 12, 2010
Click here for revised weekday boarding data (pdf) provided on February 1, 2010
Click here for the data sheet (pdf) provided on February 23, 2010

Photo of the automated passenger counting electronic eye on Link rail
cars number 101 to 110, about a
third of them. As of October, cars 111 to 135 do not have these counters
installed. Total boarding counts are extrapolated from numbers recorded
on the cars where the counters exist.
![]()
Return to the Public Interest Transportation Forum home page.
![]()
Last modified: March 03, 2010