urbanSTL

Those that think the Clayton Central or the CWE walks are far are crazy!!!

I walk both of them about every day and they are some of the best walks. CWE Station to Lindell is only like 10mins and if you think thats long you need a check... Also Clayton Central to Forsyth is 8-10min. I dont understand why so many of you guys b**** and moan about walking when i see hundards of people everyday doing it and not just blue collar workers either. I havent had a car the five years I have lived here and i can get every where i need and more, only the far county areas are hard to but there are no reasons i need to go that far when everything i need is along metrolink and alot of the bus lines or walking.

Here you go. September 06 through Jan 07 Total ridership for five months. Shewsbury is by far the highest ridershp station on Shrewsbury alignmentl.



Central West End Station 720,587

Forest Park Station 646,373

North Hanley Station 519,457

Grand Station 509,225

Convention Center Station 445,915

Lambert Main Terminal 380,212

Civic Center Station 376,244

Union Station 357,989

Delmar Station 343,531

5th & Missouri Station 343,300

Shrewsbury Metrolink Station 325,764

8th & Pine Station 325,023

Emerson Park Station @ 15th Stree 308,706

Rock Road Station 283,190

Stadium MetroLink Station 257,926

Fairview Heights Station @ Route161 202,448

Wellston Station 183,192

Arch Laclede's Landing 176,542

East Riverfront Station 173,553

Shiloh-Scott Station 167,181

Brentwood I-64 Metrolink Station 153,024

Clayton Metrolink Station 143,240

UMSL South Station 139,768

J J K Center Station @ 25th Street 139,015

Richmond Heights Metrolink Station 125,639

Belleville Station @ Sheel Street 123,048

College Stat @ Southwest IL College 122,832

UMSL North Station 118,693

Skinker Metrolink Station 116,014

Washington Park Sta @ Kingshighwa 109,827

U City Big Bend Metrolink Station 102,518

Maplewood Manchester Metrolink Station 101,712

Swansea Station @ Route 159 101,445

Memorial Hospital Station @ Fington 81,320

Lambert East Terminal 78,804

Forsyth Metrolink Station 66,549

Sunnen Metrolink Station 53,141

When playing with Busdad's numbers in means (Xbar) if I typed in the correct numbers



Daily 57,567.4



Weekly 402,971.8



Monthly 1,784,589.4



Annually 21,415,072.8



Compared to the entire Portland, OR mass transit (bus and light rail) our Metrolink alone (no bus) constitutes 34.5% of their ridership and if we had the bus figures this would be higher. I know the comparison is not light rail vs light rail, but I do not have the number accessibility.



We have a great system with much potential

I will get the bus ridership also next week.



Annual bus ridership is approximately 33,000,000 or 2.75 million.



Metrolink ridership generally increases considerably as the weather improves.



Bus ridership is down at the moment due primarily to the St. Louis City Schools shift to yellow school buses.

Gosh - I felt as though the Forsyth stop wasn't very busy, but wow.

Forsyth isn't very busy. Busy stations have over 2,000 boardings per day. Forsyth has perhaps 800. Sunnen has even fewer. Only Shrewsbury exceeds 2,000 per day.



We don't think adding a new station (like Sarah) makes any sense unless it adds 2,000 new boardings at that station alone. You will need to quadruple the number of jobs in a half mile of that station, add much more residential density, and add retail or some other commercial activity to the area. There is certainly potential, but its not there yet. The Cortex developments may generate work trips, but not much associated travel. (Like health care at CWE).



Brentwood and Richmond Heights both show promise. Clayton is over 1,000 per day, but was expected to be over 4,000 if you look at the original model. Manchester will do better when the bus loop is done. Sunnen will never do much better unless park ride is provided and development becomes more dense. There is certainly potential.



When the parking garage is open at Brentwood (likely early June), it is expected that boardings will increase at that Station. The garage will four retail stores on the ground floor of the garage targeting vendors like Starbucks, Quiznos, a bank.



When the garage is done, the developer will begin working on 175,000 square feet of additional office space and retail just east of the current development. Over 1,000 employees will work in the Meridian Development alone when its done.



The Shrewsbury alignment shows very good promise for future ridership and associated development. However, we could easily double the ridership on those trains and not be over crowded.



Wash U generates nearly 30 % of all boardings on the new Shrewsbury Station and approximately 10 % of all weekday boardings on Metrolink across the system. Wash U dominates Foysyth, Big Bend and Skinker with over 50 % of all boardings on those stations.



Wash U is about 30 % of the CWE Stations 6,600 weekday boardings.

List of United States Light Rail systems by ridership

The Wikipedia link above is a list of all light rail systems in the US ranked by ridership and ridership per mile. The APTA link, the first link in the Notes section, has info on all forms of transit in every city in the US.



Using Busdad's numbers, I get a ~72,000 daily ridership (124 days). Ridership per mile is 1,564. If separated by state, ridership per mile just in Illinois is a measly 632; in Missouri, 2,457 which is better than Minneapolis.



Edit: I've way underestimated Illinois ridership (and overestimated Missouri ridership). Busdad, any idea how many riders cross the Mississippi?

Illinois boardings in January were around 12,600 passengers. Average weekday boardings in total in January were 72,xxx boardings.



I believe something around 9,000 cross the Mississippi westbound. Eastbound the Illinois passengers board in Missouri. However, if you double the westbound boardings and add those boardings that stay exclusively within Illinois, the Illinois generated ridership would be just over 20,000 passengers.



Illinois ridership has been steadily increasing over the years.

I am surprised Shrewsberry is so high since it does not have highway access into South County like North Hanley does for North County. Granted the bus transfers and many arterial and minor arterial roads carry their fair share.



Could extending the CC line from Shrewsberry south towards I-270 generate a feasible amount of ridership or is the North - South Externsion city line into Lemay more likely to better serve south county?



I can see why Big Bend may not be very high or Clayton not meeting 4,000, but the shifts in fuel prices, transit-oriented development, transit anchored job center, and future St. Louis County extensions into Clayton should make it hit this number one day. TOD is happening, gas fluctuates, and Illinois gaining people may help, but extending a line towards West Port may be the best bet. I still prefer an Olive subway or "L" to hit the Life Sciences/Monsanto area and Creve Coeur's future CBD. However, Westport is better for gaining St. Charles County drivers, Overland - Ritneur, Parkway North area, Pattonville area, reverse commuting, and many jobs.



It appears, thanks to Metrolink CC, that many office buildings and condo buildings will be built near the Brentwood station and who knows with Richmond Heights. Level the Galleria and build an urban village. Brentwood's comprehensive plan calls for the possibility of a second station.



I never knew bus ridership was so much! This brings our bus + lightrail to 83.7% of Portland's bus + lightrail in rough figures. If the Democrats could push the Republicans we could see much more light rail money available at the national level. Afterall, Portland still relies heavily on federal dollars to build light rail where we did not on the CC line.

Busdad wrote:
When the parking garage is open at Brentwood (likely early June), it is expected that boardings will increase at that Station. The garage will four retail stores on the ground floor of the garage targeting vendors like Starbucks, Quiznos, a bank.

I drove past there this weekend and was pleased to see the groundfloor retail spaces being built. Hopefully the builder/developer of the garage can get some decent TOD tenants.



I also hope Dierbergs pulls their heads out of their a**es and allows some stairs to be built instead of making people walk 100 or so yards to the back side of the plaza.



The garage should be a big help. I tried shopping at Best Buy on Mardi Gras Saturday and there was no parking available except for stuff on the side by Men's Warehouse. People heading to Soulard were parking under Best Buy/Sports Authority and had spilled to the front of the store. I saw three groups of people decked out with beads who parked in front of Best Buy walking around the back to take the train downtown.



Lastly I rode the train Saturday and was amazed to see the number of Wash U students waiting to transfer from the Shrewbury line to the "old" line to get to the airport. I guess this week is Spring Break and everyone was getting out of town. I counted 25 students with luggage waiting for an airport train: and this wasn't some group heading out together.

Americans Take More Than 10 Billion Trips on Public Transportation for the First Time in Almost Fifty Years



WASHINGTON, DC - If you thought you were seeing more riders during your daily public transit trips, it’s not your imagination. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced today that Americans took 10.1 billion trips on local public transportation in 2006 – the first time in 49 years. Over the last decade, public transportation’s growth rate outpaced the growth rate of the population and the growth rate of vehicle miles traveled on our nation’s highways.



“This significant ridership milestone is part of a multi-year trend as more and more Americans ride public transit to get to destinations important to them, while realizing the benefits of saving money and avoiding congestion,” said William W. Millar, president of APTA. “Public transit ridership helps reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and decreases our contribution to global warming; but ultimately, this milestone represents 10 billion reasons to increase local and federal investment in public transportation.”



Public transit use is up 30 percent since 1995. That is more than double the growth rate of the population (12 percent) and higher than the growth rate for the vehicle miles traveled on our roads (24 percent) during that same period. In 2006, public transit ridership grew 2.9 percent over 2005. To put the 10.1 billion public transportation trips in perspective, transit trips outnumber domestic airline trips by 15 to one.



Light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) had the highest percentage increase among all modes, with 5.6 percent increase in 2006. Some light rail systems showed double digit increases in ridership: San Jose (36.6 percent); Minneapolis (18.4 percent); New Jersey (20.1 percent); Saint Louis (16.2 percent); Philadelphia (10.8 percent); and Salt Lake City (14.2 percent).



http://www.apta.com/research/stats/ridership.

Sweetness - and this is before the new metro line really had time to impact numbers. Can we get some federal $$ now?

just bought a bike so i can take the link more often....

From the P-D story:

Even though many riders say they would otherwise be driving, Wendell Cox, a former Los Angeles transit planner who lives in Belleville, says there's still no proof that light rail reduces traffic. "These systems are routinely sold for their ability to get cars of the road," Cox said. "They rarely do."

I love the fact that this guy was a transit planner in LA.

Wendell Cox.



Why do people continue to go to this guy?

I have a feeling he goes to the P-D...and they occasionally oblige and quote him. I know a guy who does that on various issues almost daily, and every once in a while they throw him a bone and print his letter or quote him in an article.

quick question... If i have a semester ML pass from UMSL, am I suppossed to swipe it somewhere? If not, how do they include pass holders in ridership figures?

bpe235 wrote:quick question... If i have a semester ML pass from UMSL, am I suppossed to swipe it somewhere? If not, how do they include pass holders in ridership figures?

You only swipe it when getting on a bus.



I guess they base their counts on the security guards who walk through the trains and check tickets. When they get to the back of the train I guess the write down the ridership count.



Plus maybe they're using the security cameras and software to count entrance/exits from trains