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Post by rubbertoe on Jul 31, 2012 16:51:11 GMT -8
June 2012 Initial Graph:  Now that Metro has finally started publishing Silver Line ridership, I'll start tracking it in graphical form. Since they only publish historical numbers for the prior 3 years for each month, it will take another 9 months to fill in the chart and have 3 years worth of historical data in the chart. I don't follow the Silver Line news that closely, but I do seem to recall that they are running new(er) buses, and also shortened the headways. If anyone knows the dates of those, let me know and I will enter them as data labels in the columns. I do know that part of the Express Lanes project is the purchase and running of new buses on the ROW. And I know they also have a program by which frequent riders on those corridors can get discounted or free access to the carpool lanes as solo drivers based on the number of transit trips they make. I have a Express Lanes transponder, but I don't ever commute in the corridor so I won't be getting any of those freebies. The uptrend is obvious and good news to see, for what is probably one of the most underutilized assets in terms of cost versus public benefit in the entire transit system. You would certainly think that the Silver Line falls into the category of both the Orange Line, and also the light rail lines, whereby increased ridership on any of the lines boosts ridership on the system as a whole. As you have more "fast links" in the system, and the fast links start connecting with each other, more people will start using those links. It will be interesting to see how the Express Lanes pilot project works out too. They are supposed to plow the proceeds, estimated at ~$20,000,000 per year, back into the corridor. RT |
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Post by macross287 on Jul 31, 2012 18:38:35 GMT -8
Hey Rubbertoe
Metro has published alot of historical bus ridership information on a link in their ridership page located in the upper right corner.
I was able to pull these silver line numbers from there
2010/04 7,173
2010/05 7,422
2010/06 7,227
2010/07 7,488
2010/08 7,487
2010/09 7,741
2010/10 8,118
2010/11 7,522
2010/12 6,714
2011/01 8,049
2011/02 8,304
2011/03 8,540
2011/04 9,086
2011/04 9086
2011/05 9329
2011/06 8892
2011/07 9480
2011/08 9730
2011/09 10414
2011/10 11234
2011/11 10648
2011/12 9386
2012/01 10601
2012/02 11089
2012/03 11157
2012/04 11241
Maybe next quarter you could this data into your chart.
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Post by macross287 on Jul 31, 2012 18:42:14 GMT -8
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Post by rubbertoe on Aug 2, 2012 14:20:39 GMT -8
the future is now...  |
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Post by jamesinclair on Aug 2, 2012 15:58:09 GMT -8
Not bad for a bus line whos major improvements were all delayed indefinitely (better schedule, union station busway, downtown signal priority etc etc etc)
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Post by macross287 on Aug 2, 2012 19:04:00 GMT -8
I have a hard time determining whats fueling the Silver Line ridership growth. Alot of Express buses were shortened to either El Monte or Harbor Gateway. So it is possible that the growth in the Silver Line is a product of former Express bus riders being forced to use the service.
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Post by bzcat on Aug 3, 2012 9:13:42 GMT -8
Metro had said that they expect ridership to increase just with better branding... I'll leave you to judge whether that is true or not. Someone with more time and better resources can probably look up the ridership of former express bus to see if they carried over to the Silver line.
The June ridership dropped after Metro and Foothill transit began to interline the operation of Silver line and Silverstreak... or it just be that USC/CSULA is on summer break...
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Post by Elson on Aug 3, 2012 10:53:47 GMT -8
Metro had said that they expect ridership to increase just with better branding... I'll leave you to judge whether that is true or not. Someone with more time and better resources can probably look up the ridership of former express bus to see if they carried over to the Silver line. The June ridership dropped after Metro and Foothill transit began to interline the operation of Silver line and Silverstreak... or it just be that USC/CSULA is on summer break... The latter likely. More for Cal State LA than USC, since CSULA is much more of a "commuter" school than USC is. I have never been on the so-called Silver Line before, and the only time I've been on the El Monte Busway was to go from Downtown to Cal State LA when I was attending classes there some 20+ years ago. Of course, if I were going to Cal State LA today, I'd use Metrolink  |
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Post by wad on Aug 5, 2012 4:50:56 GMT -8
Metro had said that they expect ridership to increase just with better branding... I'll leave you to judge whether that is true or not. Someone with more time and better resources can probably look up the ridership of former express bus to see if they carried over to the Silver line. The only way to do this is to ask the library if it still has the Stop Dots analysis. That's where ridership on the line is plotted with dots; the bigger the dot, the busier the stop. |
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Post by bluelineshawn on Aug 5, 2012 7:32:01 GMT -8
The Silver line needs more than just better branding. It needs better equipment. Suburban style commuter buses with more comfortable seating would be a start. And I don't know what to do about people standing. Is that normally allowed for buses that travel on freeways? It seems unsafe and people sometimes fall when the bus has to swerve or stop quickly.
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Post by blueridge on Aug 5, 2012 8:03:25 GMT -8
I don't know if standing is legal, but it is very common on the LADOT Commuter 573 from the Valley to Century City to have people standing in the aisles. I agree, it is unsafe.
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Aug 5, 2012 10:09:26 GMT -8
The Silver line needs more than just better branding. It needs better equipment. Suburban style commuter buses with more comfortable seating would be a start. And I don't know what to do about people standing. Is that normally allowed for buses that travel on freeways? It seems unsafe and people sometimes fall when the bus has to swerve or stop quickly. Ride the Big Blue Bus 10, that's common everyday. If you restrict tickets to only sitting passengers, you'll have a lot of upset passengers. This is a very common "good problem" in all major metropolitan areas. You hardly ever find a seat on London, Paris buses. |
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Post by jamesinclair on Aug 5, 2012 14:53:35 GMT -8
The Silver line needs more than just better branding. It needs better equipment. Suburban style commuter buses with more comfortable seating would be a start. And I don't know what to do about people standing. Is that normally allowed for buses that travel on freeways? It seems unsafe and people sometimes fall when the bus has to swerve or stop quickly. Ride the Big Blue Bus 10, that's common everyday. If you restrict tickets to only sitting passengers, you'll have a lot of upset passengers. This is a very common "good problem" in all major metropolitan areas. You hardly ever find a seat on London, Paris buses. I think he was talking about how this line foes at 65mph, not the 6mph you get in London. |
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Post by bzcat on Aug 6, 2012 11:13:28 GMT -8
It's probably not the safest thing to do but in the example of Big Blue Bus #10, it rarely goes above 15 mph during peak commute hours  Silver Line is a little different since it travels in dedicated bus lane at higher speed. But it is quite typical for BRT style service in other countries to use low floor urban buses. The high floor commuter buses like the ones that LADOT uses do not facilitate fast passenger loading and unloading. They are more ideal for express routes. Silver Line is more BRT than express service so I think the NABI 45C buses are the right equipment. |
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Post by bluelineshawn on Aug 6, 2012 18:55:56 GMT -8
Silver Line is a little different since it travels in dedicated bus lane at higher speed. I haven't ridden the 10 fwy portion, but there is no dedicated bus lane on the 110. |
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Post by fissure on Aug 6, 2012 21:58:04 GMT -8
Silver Line is a little different since it travels in dedicated bus lane at higher speed. I haven't ridden the 10 fwy portion, but there is no dedicated bus lane on the 110. It's not a bus lane, but the transitway isn't a general purpose lane and presumably doesn't always get stop-and-go at rush hour or they wouldn't be trying to make use of extra capacity with ExpressLanes. |
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Post by calwatch on Aug 8, 2012 18:24:50 GMT -8
There's more data, along with major events, here at www.metro.net/board/Items/2012/07_July/20120718AHCPItem32.pdf - the monthly congestion pricing report. Go to Page 57. They also are breaking down Harbor ridership separately. Also note that in June 2011, they upgraded the Harbor Transitway-side service to every 15 minutes during the weekday base and cancelled Line 445 in the process, and in June 2012 they upgraded service on weekends so that all trips run through. Still have a few more buses to add to get to rail level service on nights and weekends, though. |
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