Sound Transit's 2009 daily riders average on Seattle
Central Link Light Rail revised to be 15,546 -- forecast was 19,800

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.