Quote:
Originally Posted by Swede
Ridership keeps going up 
Any local forumer feel like making a guesstimate of what it'll level out at? Or will there be expansions before this line reaches that level? Also, any service increases on this line likely as ridership goes up? |
Ridership on the initial line is going to keep going up for a while as more people get used to it and some projects around the line open up. It also helps that the line links the ASU Tempe campus and ASU downtown campus, and ASU is steadily increasing the size of it's downtown campus while concentrating some core classes in Tempe. Sucks for the students, but it helps light rail ridership as DT students have to get to Tempe for some classes
Unfortunately, all the extensions except for maybe 2 shortish ones keep getting pushed back due to funding issues and service is going to decrease this summer for the same reason. Apparently it's not so brilliant to fund your line almost exclusively with sales tax revenue in a state with an extremely volatile economy
EDIT: ridership plummeted last summer, presumably due to weather and ASU being out of session. So ridership numbers are about to drop off a cliff again for a couple months or they'll be a significant improvement over last year if we even hold steady for the next couple months. Either way, the numbers will continue to rise through the fall.