Metro light rail ridership numbers for April 09′ top 1 million

For immediate release

May 18, 2009

PHOENIX — METRO exceeded one million riders in April with 1,044,135 total boardings.  “This is a significant milestone for a transit agency,” said METRO CEO Rick Simonetta.  “We’re sincerely appreciative of our riders for making light rail a part of their lives.”

To put the spotlight on the millions of METRO riders, today marks the launch of a contest to hear their stories; one will be rewarded.

METRO’s “One in One Million” contest asks passengers to share a positive experience from on board a METRO train or station area.  The stories will be posted online in June for the public to enjoy.  One entrant will be randomly selected at the end of May to receive behind-the-scenes access of METRO.  The winner will also receive 30, all-day transit passes and a gift bag of METRO apparel and other goodies.  Visit www.metrolightrail.org/onemillion for the entry form and greater detail.

Also in April, METRO achieved an average weekday ridership of 37,386, average Saturday ridership of 32,720 and average Sunday and holiday ridership of 22,694.

The following displays the ridership projections developed during METRO planning, actual ridership averages and the percentage increases over the projections.

Weekday

Ridership Projection  26,000 

Average Actual Ridership (Jan. – Apr.)  34,484

Percentage Over Projection  32.6%

Saturday

Ridership Projection  20,800

Average Actual Ridership (Jan. – Apr.)  31,021

Percentage Over Projection  49.1%

Sunday/Holiday

Ridership Projection 11,267

Average Actual Ridership (Jan. – Apr.)  21,740

Percentage Over Projection  92.9%

METRO will continue to monitor ridership and report new totals on a monthly basis; numbers will be available by the middle of the subsequent month.  Boardings by station reports will be available on a quarterly basis.