Last week, METRO sent out their inaugural issue of Valley Metro’s News On The Move, a new bi-monthly e-newsletter with “timely highlights about the agency and local transit.” One interesting tidbit of information talked about the continued rise in light rail ridership around here.
According to METRO:
For light rail, there was a 5.9 percent rise in ridership for 2011-12.
Weekend ridership experienced a surprising jump with an average increase of 6.2 percent for light rail.
It still sounds like a broken record every time we talk about the growing light rail ridership. Heck, the July 2012 ridership numbers show us that the average Sunday/Holiday boardings hit 25,585 which is another high for the year. That’s a bunch of Sunday strolls. Let’s compare the last few years of Sunday / holiday ridership.
2009 it was 18,110
2010 it was 19,200
2011 it was 20,930
If my math is correct, the average for the first seven months of 2012 is looking north of 23,000. I’m not sure why I picked the Sunday numbers, the fact is, the trend continues to be up.
Recreational use is still huge. Sporting events, concerts, restaurants, bars are all a big reason for the high weekend numbers. In addition to recreational use, national trends show more demand for walkable neighborhoods and convenient lifestyles. People enjoy the convenience of living, working and playing close to home.
August numbers should be posted soon. I’m always a sucker for watching what they say. Stay tuned, we’ll let you know.
( source: METRO light rail )
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