Sound Transit’s trains and buses reach record ridership levels in 2014
Double-digit growth in Link light rail ridership continues for sixth straight year since 2009 opening
Sound Transit once again set all-time annual records in 2014 for boardings on its trains and buses. The latest numbers, reported at today's Sound Transit Board meeting, reflect an increase of more than 8 percent over 2013, bringing average weekday boardings to more than 109,000 for 2014 and total boardings to an estimated 33 million.
"Each year more and more people hop aboard Sound Transit's trains and express buses," said Sound Transit Board Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine. "These gains mean not only happier and more productive commuters, but fewer cars on our congested roads."
Sound Transit's rate of ridership growth was more than four times that of transit ridership nationally. The latest American Public Transportation Association numbers show 1.8 percent growth from third quarter 2013 to third quarter 2014.
Here's a breakdown of the growth in average weekday ridershp:
- Central Link light rail: 32,924 - a 13.7 percent increase from 2013
- Sounder commuter rail: 12,694 - a 9.6 percent increase from 2013
- ST Express regional buses: 60,944 - a 6.7 percent increase from 2013
All three services also saw healthy growth in annual boardings:
- Central Link light rail: 10.9 million boardings, 13 percent increase from 2013
- Sounder commuter rail: 3.4 million boardings, 11 percent increase from 2012
- ST Express regional buses: 17.6 million boardings, 6 percent increase from 2013