APTA Quarterly Transit Ridership Reports

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by fflint

APTA 4th Quarter 2012
Average Weekday Ridership for US Heavy-Rail Systems:

01. New York - 8,373,100
02. Washington - 901,300
03. Chicago - 728,800
04. Boston - 530,200
05. San Francisco - 418,700
06. Philadelphia - 339,700
07. Atlanta - 217,600
08. Jersey City (PATH) - 180,400
09. Los Angeles - 158,200
10. Miami - 69,100
11. Baltimore - 50,100
12. Lindenwold (PATH) - 36,900
13. Staten Island Railway - 16,000
xx. Cleveland - NA

Lindenwold is PATCO....

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Doady

I noticed a few of the Canadian numbers are quite inaccurate (i.e too low) since the agencies accidently reported linked trips (the Canadian standard) instead of unlinked trips (the US standard).

All the agencies accidentally reported the wrong info at the same time?

[mfastx]

Charlotte's numbers sure seem low.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Lindenwold is PATCO....

Oops, sorry about that. I'll fix it.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

All the agencies accidentally reported the wrong info at the same time?

I never said all, I said a few - more specifically, the numbers for STM, York Region Transit and Brampton Transit are wrong; they are linked trips, not unlinked.

STM is weird since they reported the correct info last year. Last year STM reported 2.5 million riders per weekday to APTA, and this year they reported 1.4 million riders per weekday. I find it hard to believe that STM's ridership dropped by over 40 percent in one year.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by fflint

APTA 4th Quarter 2012
Average Weekday Ridership for US Heavy-Rail Systems:

01. New York - 8,373,100
02. Washington - 901,300
03. Chicago - 728,800
04. Boston - 530,200
05. San Francisco - 418,700
06. Philadelphia - 339,700
07. Atlanta - 217,600
08. Jersey City (PATH) - 180,400
09. Los Angeles - 158,200
10. Miami - 69,100
11. Baltimore - 50,100
12. Lindenwold (PATCO) - 36,900
13. Staten Island Railway - 16,000
xx. Cleveland - NA

Originally Posted by fflint

APTA 4th Quarter Report

Top 20 US Light Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership:

01. Boston - 222,500
02. Los Angeles - 203,400
03. San Francisco - 160,100
04. Portland - 115,400
05. Philadelphia - 113,900
06. Dallas - 103,100
07. San Diego - 87,700
08. Denver - 65,300
09. Salt Lake City - 60,600
10. St. Louis - 52,500
11. Sacramento - 49,600
12. Phoenix - 46,000
13. Houston - 37,400
14. San Jose - 33,800
15. Minneapolis - 31,500
16. Seattle - 29,800
17. Baltimore - 29,200
18. Pittsburgh - 27,600
19. Buffalo - 19,900
20. Charlotte - 14,800

Thanks for those lists. Here are the commuter rail numbers. (I think I compiled them correctly, but let me know if/what I messed up...)

US Commuter Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership

01. New York – 610,000 (Long Island + Metro-North)
02. Chicago – 312,000 (Metra + NICTD)
03. Boston – 127,300
04. Philadelphia – 125,300
05. San Francisco – 56,400 (Caltrain + Oakland + Stockton)
06. Los Angeles – 42,300
07. Baltimore–Washington - 36,100
08. Miami – 14,300
09. Seattle – 10,900
10. Salt Lake City – 7,800

(Alexandria/Virginia and Newark are both not available)

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by fflint

APTA 4th Quarter 2012
Average Weekday Ridership for US Heavy-Rail Systems:

01. New York - 8,373,100
02. Washington - 901,300
03. Chicago - 728,800
04. Boston - 530,200
05. San Francisco - 418,700
06. Philadelphia - 339,700
07. Atlanta - 217,600
08. Jersey City (PATH) - 180,400
09. Los Angeles - 158,200
10. Miami - 69,100
11. Baltimore - 50,100
12. Lindenwold (PATCO) - 36,900
13. Staten Island Railway - 16,000
xx. Cleveland - NA

I wonder where Miami's Metromover numbers would go? The heavy rail stats only include Metrorail not Metromover, but the Metromover numbers don't show up under light rail either (~32,000 daily boardings in 2012)

[afiggatt]

Originally Posted by fflint

Top 20 US Light Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership:

01. Boston - 222,500
02. Los Angeles - 203,400

LA light rail had a 18.5% ridership growth in 2012 compared to the Boston MBTA Green Line with 3.8%. With the new lines that started during 2012, LA could overtake or just about match Boston in this category in 2013, pretty good odds it will do so by 2014.

The MBTA Green Line extension will boost Green Line ridership, but the extension is some years away. By then, LA will have opened how many additional miles of light rail?

[JDRCRASH]

When is the MBTA Green Line extension projected to be completed?

[eternallyme]

Modified the quotes to account for Sandy; red indicates the agency lost at least 1 day due to Sandy (from what I can remember; a "day" lost includes at least one rush hour missed or much of a weekend day, but not an evening only). Those in orange I can't remember shutting down for Sandy but could be wrong.

Originally Posted by fflint

APTA 4th Quarter 2012
Average Weekday Ridership for US Heavy-Rail Systems:

01. New York - 8,373,100 (3 days, sections much longer)
02. Washington - 901,300 (2 days)
03. Chicago - 728,800
04. Boston - 530,200 (1 day)
05. San Francisco - 418,700
06. Philadelphia - 339,700 (2 days)
07. Atlanta - 217,600
08. Jersey City (PATH) - 180,400 (8 days, sections much longer
09. Los Angeles - 158,200
10. Miami - 69,100
11. Baltimore - 50,100 (2 days)
12. Lindenwold (PATCO) - 36,900 (2 days?)
13. Staten Island Railway - 16,000 (5 days)
xx. Cleveland - NA


Top 20 US Light Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership:

01. Boston - 222,500 (1 day)
02. Los Angeles - 203,400
03. San Francisco - 160,100
04. Portland - 115,400
05. Philadelphia - 113,900 (2 days)
06. Dallas - 103,100
07. San Diego - 87,700
08. Denver - 65,300
09. Salt Lake City - 60,600
10. St. Louis - 52,500
11. Sacramento - 49,600
12. Phoenix - 46,000
13. Houston - 37,400
14. San Jose - 33,800
15. Minneapolis - 31,500
16. Seattle - 29,800
17. Baltimore - 29,200 (2 days)
18. Pittsburgh - 27,600
19. Buffalo - 19,900
20. Charlotte - 14,800

[nname]

Originally Posted by Doady

I never said all, I said a few - more specifically, the numbers for STM, York Region Transit and Brampton Transit are wrong; they are linked trips, not unlinked.

STM is weird since they reported the correct info last year. Last year STM reported 2.5 million riders per weekday to APTA, and this year they reported 1.4 million riders per weekday. I find it hard to believe that STM's ridership dropped by over 40 percent in one year.

I for one think the previous number might be the one that have problem. The 2011 number stated that STM have 727M boardings, while the 2011 fare revenue was $533M. That gives an average fare of 71.8 cents per boarding. Considering the standard fare is $3.00, wouldn't that be a bit low? The new number gives approx $1.28 per boarding, which is more in line with the number from Toronto ($1.21) and Vancouver ($1.26)...

[Doady]

Originally Posted by nname

I for one think the previous number might be the one that have problem. The 2011 number stated that STM have 727M boardings, while the 2011 fare revenue was $533M. That gives an average fare of 71.8 cents per boarding. Considering the standard fare is $3.00, wouldn't that be a bit low? The new number gives approx $1.28 per boarding, which is more in line with the number from Toronto ($1.21) and Vancouver ($1.26)...

Cash fares are $3, but discounted fares are less.

What does STM's lower revenue per boarding mean? Maybe STM has a higher rate of transfers than Translink (i.e. fewer boardings resulting in fare revenue). Maybe the fares are lower (Translink is a regional system with multiple fare zones). MaybeSTM has more regular users (i.e. more users of weekly/monthly passes compared to cash fare payments). What is the significance of it though?

414 million boardings means STM has less than half the ridership of the TTC. That makes no sense at all. 414 million is actually the revenue ridership, not boardings.

[nname]

STM have about half of fare revenue compared to TTC though (TTC's revenue from fare is around 1 billion). If STM have similar boarding compared to TTC, does that mean TTC riders paid twice as much in average?

[CCs77]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

Thanks for those lists. Here are the commuter rail numbers. (I think I compiled them correctly, but let me know if/what I messed up...)

US Commuter Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership

01. New York – 610,000 (Long Island + Metro-North)
02. Chicago – 312,000 (Metra + NICTD)
03. Boston – 127,300
04. Philadelphia – 125,300
05. San Francisco – 56,400 (Caltrain + Oakland + Stockton)
06. Los Angeles – 42,300
07. Baltimore–Washington - 36,100
08. Miami – 14,300
09. Seattle – 10,900
10. Salt Lake City – 7,800

(Alexandria/Virginia and Newark are both not available)

New York also includes the New Jersey Transit corp (NJTransit) numbers, but in the report they don't include dayle ridership, I know. Anyway, it should be about the same number as MetroNorth, since they carry a similar number of people.

It is remarkable the case of SLC FrontRunner, since the APTA daily ridership numbers don't reflect the true increment of people yet. Since the ridership is an average of the entire quarter and the expansion to Provo was opened on december 10th, it can only show a fragment of the true increment of the ridership by now. But you can get a clue when you see the monthly ridership numbers: OCT'12 147300 / NOV'12 139200, but in december, and even with the extension open only on two thirds of the month, a whoping 331700 people. With that, SLC could easily pass Seattle and maybe even Miami to get to the 9th or 8th place.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Modified the quotes to account for Sandy; red indicates the agency lost at least 1 day due to Sandy (from what I can remember; a "day" lost includes at least one rush hour missed or much of a weekend day, but not an evening only). Those in orange I can't remember shutting down for Sandy but could be wrong.

I don't think Pittsburgh was affected at all from Sandy. I think the storm remained well east of there. By the time it did make its way into the area its impacts probably were minimal.

What were Pittsburgh's previous numbers? I was thinking that this number was low, but I seem to remember the T having fewer than 25k daily riders...

[CCs77]

Largest Bus Agencies.

01) New York --NYC MTA --2,648.9
02) Los Angeles --LAC MTA --1,118.5
03) Chicago --CTA --995.0
04) Philadelphia --Southeastern Penn TA --560.0
05) New Jersey --NJTransit (No Data Daily Ridership anually 161678.7, bellow Philadelphia 164373.9)
06) Washington --WMATA --411.1
07) Boston --Massachusetts Bay TA --373.7
08) Seattle --King Co Metro --304.6
09) San Francisco --SF Muni --285.9
10) Miami --MD Transit --253.9
11) Baltimore --MTA Maryland --251.1
12) Houston --Harris Co MTA --238.1
13) Minneapolis --MetroTransit --236.8
14) Denver --RTD --210.2
15) Portland --Trimet --195.5
16) Atlanta --MARTA --187.5
17) Orange Co --OCTA --183.1
18) Pittsburgh -- Porth Authority --179.6
19) San Diego --MTS --171.2
20) Milwaukee --MCTS --147.6

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by CCs77

Largest Bus Agencies.

To get an accurate metropolitan area statistics, your Chicago numbers should include PACE's 112,300 average weekday rides; Los Angeles should include Orange County, Santa Monica, and Long Beach; et cetera.

[spoonman]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

To get an accurate metropolitan area statistics, your Chicago numbers should include PACE's 112,300 average weekday rides; Los Angeles should include Orange County, Santa Monica, and Long Beach; et cetera.

Also San Diego should include the North County Transit District (NCTD). There may be other cities left incomplete as well.

[fflint]

APTA separates motorbuses from trolley buses, which is cool in some ways but kind of messes with the "bus agency" stats. We should probably just add them together. Q4 weekday ridership on SF Muni trolley buses was 200,300; 76,300 on Seattle's King County Department of Transit; 19,600 on Philly's SEPTA; 11,600 on Boston's MBTA.

I also added Oakland's AC Transit, which clocks in at #19.

Largest Motor/Trolley Bus Agencies

Rank) City --Agency-- Average Weekday Ridership:

01) New York --MTA-- 2,648,900
02) Los Angeles --MTA-- 1,118,500
03) Chicago --CTA-- 995,000
04) Philadelphia --SEPTA-- 579,600
05) New Jersey --NJT-- (Average weekday ridership not available; Total annual ridership 161,678,700, above San Francisco's 160,745,200 and below Philadelphia's 170,019,400)
06) San Francisco --Muni-- 486,200
07) Washington --WMATA-- 411,100
08) Boston --MBTA-- 385,300
09) Seattle --King Co Metro-- 380,900
10) Miami --MD Transit-- 253,900
11) Baltimore --MTA Maryland-- 251,100
12) Houston --Harris Co MTA-- 238,100
13) Minneapolis --MetroTransit-- 236,800
14) Denver --RTD-- 210,200
15) Portland --TriMet-- 195,500
16) Atlanta --MARTA-- 187,500
17) Orange --OCTA-- 183,100
18) Pittsburgh --Porth Authority-- 179,600
19) Oakland --AC Transit-- (Average weekday average not available; Total annual ridership 54,002,200, below Pittsburgh's 54,712,900 and above San Diego's 52,574,700)
20) San Diego --MTS-- 171,200
21) Milwaukee --MCTS-- 147,600

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

To get an accurate metropolitan area statistics, your Chicago numbers should include PACE's 112,300 average weekday rides; Los Angeles should include Orange County, Santa Monica, and Long Beach; et cetera.

It's not a ranking of which metro areas have the most bus riders. It's a ranking of which transit agencies have the most.

You could build a metro ranking, but you'd have to add a lot of agencies for a lot of cities. We have something around 20 providers in the DC area other than WMATA, and lots of other cities are similar.