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Post by rubbertoe on Oct 18, 2010 6:57:06 GMT -8
September quarterly update. The 82,542 was the best September since the all time high back in 2008. And no other September has had over 80,000 riders besides September 2008.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 18, 2010 17:04:14 GMT -8
Cool to see the blue line holding steady and actually increasing given all of the disruptions from Expo construction, the fare increase, and the bad economy. IINM transit ridership is down on systems around the country so for a line like the blue line whose riders are particularly susceptible to economic downturns it's pretty incredible.
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Post by jeisenbe on Oct 24, 2010 0:13:47 GMT -8
I'm actually considering driving to Los Angeles tomorrow instead of taking the Blue Line, considering the weekend bus bridge for construction. This may not be hurting weekday ridership as much, but it can't be helping. I expect as the economy improves and construction is completed, we will see significant ridership increases starting next summer.
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Nov 8, 2010 13:50:53 GMT -8
Hey all...is there any plans to give the Metro Blue Line street running priority in Long Beach? I was on it last night and man...that section between PCH station and Transit Mall is bar none ridiculous. We stopped at nearly every other light in Long Beach. This is one serious problem with at-grade rail that gives the perception of slow speed (unlike that of subways).
This section of the Blue Line, along with the 1st & 3rd street segments of the Eastside Gold Line are bad. That's why when we talk about speeds, the defenders of light rail use the Pasadena Gold Line primarily as a defense of speed v. the subway. I hope Expo Line doesn't have stop-gaps like this. I swear the Blue Line could be like 5 minutes faster if it went underground to Transit Mall for like the last 2 - 3 miles or had street-running priority.
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Post by rubbertoe on Jan 25, 2011 8:29:43 GMT -8
End of year 2010 numbers for December. In looking at the various graphs, the Blue Line seems to be the most stable in terms of ridership, when you exclude seasonal variations. Even the gas spike in 2008 didn't raise the ridership significantly above the 2006 levels, which it did for all the other rail lines. The Green Line comes in second for stability. The fact that these guys are the oldest and second oldest operating light rail lines in LA County probably isn't a coincidence. With 259 total trains running, assuming 80,000 daily riders, works out to 308 per train. So unless the 3:53am and 4:31am trains are at that level, the rush hour trains are even more crowded, obviously. Those must be some pretty full trains, though not everyone is riding from end to end. Since it's the end of the year, I'll also note the headways since I have them in front of me, and by this time next year there will be Expo trains using the same tracks. They are 5-6 minutes during rush hour, 12 minutes other times, and worst case 20 minutes at the end of the day into the wee hours. Sample rush hour timetable included too, will check back after Expo starts running to compare and see how the interleaving works...
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Post by rubbertoe on Apr 13, 2011 7:45:51 GMT -8
March 2011 numbers are out: 77,805 The 70,000 level seems to be the bottom of the range over time. The first quarter uptick is totally normal as in previous years.
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Post by rubbertoe on Jul 13, 2011 16:43:39 GMT -8
June 2011 numbers are out: 84,159 This is up 1,319 over the 2010 comparable. Also, the 3 months from April through June all showed YOY ridership gains over the previous year: April: +4,120 May: +3,855 June: +1,319 Very good quarter for the Blue Line, and definitely within striking distance of the previous high of 86,150.
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Post by rubbertoe on Oct 13, 2011 6:04:58 GMT -8
September 2011 numbers are out: 83,385 Probably the biggest news is the new peak of 90,109 seen in July.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 17, 2011 7:00:56 GMT -8
That the blue line ridership (and all of the other lines as well) has stayed high during this prolonged economic downturn is pretty astounding. Thanks for tracking it rubbertoe.
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Post by rubbertoe on Jan 19, 2012 8:13:59 GMT -8
Blue Line December update: And the timetable: Along with the subway, the Blue Line saw 10 minute headways starting in November. I looked back and saw that last year at this time, they had 20 minute headways in the later hours. And I also note that while the advertisements read "10 minutes to midnight", the timetable shows that both Northbound and Southbound service run the 10 minute headways until the service shuts down between 1:41am and 2:00am. And this is 7 days a week also. December 2011 versus 2010 ridership is 73,825 compared to 71,038. A nice boost. Going forward I'll do YOY comparisons to see how the increased service level is doing. I also see that last year the morning headways were alternating between 5 and 6 minutes. They are now at a uniform 6 minutes. Not sure when that was done actually, but it certainly makes for better integration with the Expo Line when that service starts. RT
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Post by rubbertoe on Apr 26, 2012 7:04:45 GMT -8
March 2012 update: First quarter with increased service. The quarter average ridership was 82,288 versus last years 80,293. It will be interesting to see going forward how they end up splitting the ridership between the Blue and Expo line. If someone buys a ticket at 7th/Metro or Pico, you don't know which line they will be riding. Up until now, it was obviously the Blue Line. I'm not sure how Metro calculates ridership. I remember having a discussion on some thread that concluded that they don't simply use the raw ticket sales, but do some massaging to the numbers. I guess you could do a before/after comparison of the gross ticket sales at the 2 common stations, then assume that any additional sales would be for Expo Line riders. That works for a while, but I would think that it would be more difficult over time. I guess you could also use the data from the other 8-10 Expo unique stations to help out. For example, if the unique stations show X total morning bordings, then its probably a good assumption that those are commuters going to downtown. So, if the 2 common stations show an increase of X boardings in the evening, then you are safe in assuming those are the Expo riders. RT
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Post by jeisenbe on May 5, 2012 22:57:06 GMT -8
"I'm not sure how Metro calculates ridership. I remember having a discussion on some thread that concluded that they don't simply use the raw ticket sales, but do some massaging to the numbers."
Metro doesn't rely on ticket sales (many people have montly passes); they have employees sit in the train cars and count boardings at each station. The employees are dressed in street clothes (they are usually on light duty due to an injury or health problem) but you can recognize the computerized counter they use. I spoke to one, once, while riding the Blue Line.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 6, 2012 9:57:18 GMT -8
Where have you seen Metro employees counting boardings? I've seen it on the blue line inside the train, but that wouldn't make any sense for recording total boardings as they can only observe one car and not very well at that. If anything they would need to be at the station entrance but I haven't seen that. Either way I'm sure that is only one variable in their estimation. They claim that their estimation is based on TAP usage so they likely use the visible observations as a multiplier for TAP's. For example if there are 100 TAP's but they observe 140 boardings, they would multiply the total monthly TAP's by 1.4 to get the actual boardings.
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Post by Gokhan on May 6, 2012 13:09:09 GMT -8
Where have you seen Metro employees counting boardings? I've seen it on the blue line inside the train, but that wouldn't make any sense for recording total boardings as they can only observe one car and not very well at that. If anything they would need to be at the station entrance but I haven't seen that. Either way I'm sure that is only one variable in their estimation. They claim that their estimation is based on TAP usage so they likely use the visible observations as a multiplier for TAP's. For example if there are 100 TAP's but they observe 140 boardings, they would multiply the total monthly TAP's by 1.4 to get the actual boardings. No, I believe (and I hope) all Metro Rail trains have automatic passenger counters (APCs) at the doors. This is how accurate daily and monthly boarding numbers are recorded, I think. This technology has been available since around 1980 and uses photoelectric sensors above the doorways. While it's not 100% accurate, it's more accurate than anything else. It's impossible the estimate the boardings otherwise, as many people have paper passes, and some people evade fare and others forget to tap.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 6, 2012 16:15:42 GMT -8
Where have you seen Metro employees counting boardings? I've seen it on the blue line inside the train, but that wouldn't make any sense for recording total boardings as they can only observe one car and not very well at that. If anything they would need to be at the station entrance but I haven't seen that. Either way I'm sure that is only one variable in their estimation. They claim that their estimation is based on TAP usage so they likely use the visible observations as a multiplier for TAP's. For example if there are 100 TAP's but they observe 140 boardings, they would multiply the total monthly TAP's by 1.4 to get the actual boardings. No, I believe (and I hope) all Metro Rail trains have automatic passenger counters (APCs) at the doors. This is how accurate daily and monthly boarding numbers are recorded, I think. This technology has been available since around 1980 and uses photoelectric sensors above the doorways. While it's not 100% accurate, it's more accurate than anything else. It's impossible the estimate the boardings otherwise, as many people have paper passes, and some people evade fare and others forget to tap. You might be right, although until sometime in the last year or two Metro had a disclaimer with their ridership trends that stated something along the lines of figures before a certain date being less accurate because TAP hadn't been implemented.
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Post by jdrcrasher on May 6, 2012 17:04:22 GMT -8
Wow, I wonder if the Blue Line is gonna break 100,000 this July. If the Culver City and Farmdale stations open by then as planned (**crossing fingers**), i think it would make sense for more people in Long Beach area trying to get to those areas would take the Blue Line and then transfer to Expo, and vice versa as well.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 6, 2012 18:03:03 GMT -8
Wow, I wonder if the Blue Line is gonna break 100,000 this July. If the Culver City and Farmdale stations open by then as planned (**crossing fingers**), i think it would make sense for more people in Long Beach area trying to get to those areas would take the Blue Line and then transfer to Expo, and vice versa as well. Well I don't know about that, but you never know! One thing to remember though is that contrary to public perception, the blue line also has choice riders and since Expo opened has also gotten significantly slower for the last several stations when heading to downtown. Some riders might leave, or even if not choice riders, may find other ways to get around if the speed speed stays low.
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Post by rubbertoe on Jul 31, 2012 11:34:06 GMT -8
June 2012 Update: A very nice quarter for the Blue Line. Just missed setting an all time high ridership mark. The quarter average daily boardings was 85,793 versus the 2011 Q2 average of 82,156. Whats new is the 10 minute service that runs until Midnight, which started in November 2011. Also, next month will begin reflecting the added late night service until 2:00am. Should see another nice "step function" up next quarter. RT
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Post by rubbertoe on Nov 21, 2012 7:46:32 GMT -8
September 2012 update: Nothing short of a spectacular quarter for the Blue Line. The quarterly average was 91,094 versus the 2011 quarter average of 85,228. Thats up over 6%. And the gains continued into October, where the all time high was reached again with 92,953. Ridership *never* increases from September to October, till this year. Not really sure where this is all coming from though it could certainly have something to do with the Expo opening. I'll add that to the chart for the next update. Added now. RT
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Nov 21, 2012 12:00:45 GMT -8
Don't forget, in 2011, the Blue Line was shut down nearly every weekend to work on the Washington junction. So, this year, we don't have that problem.
Also, yes, there is a lot of people who do the Blue/Expo transfer at Pico station.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Nov 21, 2012 17:29:26 GMT -8
I'm pleasantly surprised that the ridership is so high. As LAofAnaheim points out, it's amazing what having less track work will do for ridership. And as always thanks for tracking.
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Post by rubbertoe on May 13, 2013 6:18:33 GMT -8
March 2013 update: Lets see what the magic 8 ball tells us about recent Blue Line ridership. The last quarter of 2012 saw 92,621 riders which included the all time high month of November. That compares to the year earlier 75,604. Wow , 17,000 more people are riding the Blue Line as of 2012, much of which can be attributed to the Expo Line no doubt. For Q1-2013 we have 88,097 versus 82,288. When Expo hits one year of operation, I'll post a screenshot of the raw numbers for the Blue Line over the last few years. Pretty impressive. RT
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Post by jeisenbe on May 18, 2013 9:40:44 GMT -8
Impressive! I had not expected such a large increase due to Expo. Part of the increase is due to the rebounding economy and a tiny bit is due to the higher gas prices in late 2012 compared to late 2011, but the opening of Expo must be having a large effect. I wonder if Metro has done any counts to see how may people are transferring between the two lines at Pico.
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Post by rajacobs on Jan 1, 2014 18:00:09 GMT -8
New Year's Eve in Long Beach via the Expo & Blue Line -- Last night, 6 of us left the Culver City station about 7:00pm going to the Skyroom at the Breakers Hotel in Long Beach for New Year's Eve. Dressed in suits and ties, party dresses and heels, we transferred to the Blue Line and enjoyed the ride to Long Beach, enduring a ticket check by 3 Sheriff's Dept officers and witnessed a rousting of 3 teen-age turnstile jumpers before we arrived, only one block from Breakers. Riders were friendly; the train only added to the night's experience. Had a great time! Drank, danced, partied until past 1:00AM. Walked back to the Blue Line terminus at 1st Street and boarded the train at 2 AM--too inebriated to drive. An older guy wanted to sell a couple of us perfume; a younger guy was pretty high and was dancing in the aisle. Again--folks were really friendly and yelled "Happy New Year" as we got off the train at Pico to board the Expo Line. LA is changing--the train can beautifully lace the city together in a new way, ...unimaginable just a short time ago. Hope many more take advantage of this link to Long Beach next year. Hope we do too!
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