MetroLink station ridership-- Busiest and least busy?

STLEnginerd · PostNov 30, 2014#2762014-11-30T06:08+00:00

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metrolin ... 25841.html

One reason i feel the new station at Boyle should be grade separated u dear Boyle itself. I also think it would give a better passenger experience and be less disruptive to street traffic which will be important as cortex grows.

I wonder what the cost difference for a grade separated station would be. Admittedly there would still be two street crossings at Taylor and at Sarah but it'd be a start.

quincunx · PostNov 30, 2014#2772014-11-30T18:42+00:00

Idiot driver. I rode Metrolink yesterday west from downtown, glad I wasn't on that one!

I think the stairs to a below-grade station would be a negative for passengers. And it'd cost an incredible amount.

wabash · PostNov 30, 2014#2782014-11-30T19:18+00:00

quincunx wrote:I think the stairs to a below-grade station would be a negative for passengers.

I don't think that would be much of a problem as most stations (at least on the Missouri side) have stairs, so Metrolink riders are used to them.

^^I like the idea. And you could go under Sarah and Newstead while you were at it. But I think that would easily quintuple the cost of the new station and therefore be cost prohibitive.

The new station is expected to have average weekday ridership of 890, 780 of whom would be new riders (i.e. not cannibalized from Central West End or Grand stations). The Cortex station is anticipated to open by March 2017.

MarkHaversham · PostNov 30, 2014#2792014-11-30T20:37+00:00

quincunx wrote:Idiot driver. I rode Metrolink yesterday west from downtown, glad I wasn't on that one!

Jesus that's stupid. I guess he'll get fined or something.

wabash · PostDec 01, 2014#2802014-12-01T22:21+00:00

Although Metrolink's growth rate was 1.9% over the 12 months, it was .8% in the first two quarters of 2014. Here's how that ridership growth rate stacks up with some peer city light rail systems:

San Diego: 36.3%
Denver: 16.4%
Salt Lake City: 9.2%
Minneapolis: 3.6%
St. Louis: .8%
Portland: -.3%
Sacramento: -.6%
Pittsburgh: -1.7%
Cleveland: -4.6%
Baltimore: -11.4%
Buffalo: -25.2%

Presbyterian · PostDec 01, 2014#2812014-12-01T23:06+00:00

It's interesting how many of the region's development dollars are being invested in areas with good light rail access: Cortex, Midtown, Downtown, Central West End, Wash U Medical Center, the Loop, Clayton. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I wouldn't be surprised if those neighborhoods account for a majority of the region's development spending right now.

roger wyoming II · PostDec 01, 2014#2822014-12-01T23:25+00:00

^ Right. And it also is an important reason (as I mentioned on the separate thread on what next for transit) for why a N/S Metrolink route is much superior to an extension to Westport as N/S will bring many more riders into employment concentrations that already are pretty well served by Metrolink. Westport would be nice to have in a completed system but is much less important than N/S.

wabash · PostMar 12, 2015#2832015-03-12T19:49+00:00

The 4th Qtr 2014 ridership report recently came out, and it's not pretty. Metrolink had the second largest decrease in the country. Ridership decreased 6.0% from Q4 2014 vs. Q4 2013. The only worse performer was Buffalo at -8.0%, which has been coping with a major construction project along its main downtown right-of-way.

This bucks a trend since Prop A'a passage of moderate but steady increases in ridership. The worst month for ridership was November, which had an 11% decrease. Considering the slow but steady job recovery in the St. Louis area, and the lack of any major Metrolink construction projects, I can't help but think that the November 24th Darren Wilson grand jury decision and the use of Metrolink as a means of protest by Ferguson activists may have had something to do with these significant decreases in ridership.

imperialmog · PostMar 12, 2015#2842015-03-12T20:01+00:00

^ I wouldn't be surprised if that is a factor. But for some reason I was thinking the weather was also unusually bad around that time compared to the previous year too. I was thinking a couple of days of unusually early snowfall and ice which would have an impact.

I do worry if there is a Ferguson effect in terms of mass transit that will make it harder to expand a system.

wabash · PostMar 12, 2015#2852015-03-12T20:22+00:00

imperialmog wrote:I do worry if there is a Ferguson effect in terms of mass transit that will make it harder to expand a system.

I think their are different political motivations at play when it comes to Ferguson and infrastructure investment, but yeah, it would certainly help the argument for expansion if ridership were increasing as opposed sliding precipitously.

What worries me is that I think Metrolink ridership is a decent economic indicator for St. Louis. It shows how much people are going to work, going out, and even visiting from out of town. For all of its shortcomings, Metrolink connects some of the key economic engines (employment centers, transportation centers, and entertainment/attractions) in the region. Lower ridership (absent cutbacks in service) is just not a good sign in terms of the economic health and activity within the core of the region.

quincunx · PostMar 12, 2015#2862015-03-12T20:34+00:00

Q4 also didn't have a World Series.

roger wyoming II · PostMar 12, 2015#2872015-03-12T20:43+00:00

^ true, but as Wabash said I more vigorous economy wouldn't let a few events impact numbers in a significant way.

wabash · PostMar 13, 2015#2882015-03-13T00:30+00:00

^^Hadn't thought of that. Those three home games definitely might have boosted the October 2013 numbers a bit. But the November numbers are what really sunk the whole quarter.

Here's a link the stats (note that APTA's annual stats run Jan-Dec, whereas metro's fiscal year runs July-June, hence some discrepancy): APTA Stats

dbInSouthCity · PostMar 13, 2015#2892015-03-13T12:52+00:00

something to ponder before we spend $1.5 Billion on another line....

wabash · PostMar 13, 2015#2902015-03-13T14:05+00:00

^or $1.5 Billion on more roads.

dbInSouthCity · PostMar 13, 2015#2912015-03-13T14:07+00:00

wabash wrote:^or $1.5 Billion on more roads.

we definitely shouldnt be spending $1.5B on new roads, we should be spending $1.5B on maintaining and fixing the current ones.

EVEN IF we get in the top 5 cities for % of people that take transit to work...we would still have at least 80% driving, so any big cut to road/bridge spending would be foolish and dangerous.

roger wyoming II · PostMar 13, 2015#2922015-03-13T15:27+00:00

^ Maintain what we have on roads and move right now on a north-south rapid transit line... seems plain as day to me that with financial realities and time lines true BRT -- while not perfect -- is the best option or we'll be talking about this forever.

moorlander · PostApr 09, 2015#2932015-04-09T20:33+00:00

The Ferguson Effect? MetroLink Ridership Falls in Last Quarter of 2014

Ever since the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, St. Louis officials have been citing “the Ferguson effect” as an explanation for a variety of woes facing the region.

Mayor Francis Slay pointed to the Ferguson effect when explaining climbing crime rates. Police chief Sam Dotson did the same to explain why officers were performing fewer preemptive strikes on criminals. Even the World Aquarium inside the City Museum blamed the Ferguson effect for its drop in visitors after the U.S. Department of Agriculture found animals living in filthy conditions.

“A lot of people are afraid to come to St. Louis,” aquarium president Leonard Sonnenschein told KTVI. “A lot of people were afraid to get out of the house.”

But the Bi-State Development Agency says it's not so sure that Ferguson is to blame for the 6 percent dip in its MetroLink ridership between October and December 2014.

read more
http://www.stlmag.com/news/the-ferguson ... ast-quart/

imperialmog · PostApr 09, 2015#2942015-04-09T20:41+00:00

Interesting is they note a couple of other factors that played into it. Notably the Cardinals, the no Thanksgiving Day Parade (which is a Ferguson effect), and the weather.

The weather is something I was thinking is a factor, since there was more winter weather in Q4 last year than in previous years. The 1Q numbers will be interesting to see if there is much change (note weather will also play into this)

moorlander · PostApr 28, 2015#2952015-04-28T14:25+00:00

Where would you like Metrolink expanded?

Take the poll
http://m.bizjournals.com/stlouis/pulse/ ... 681?r=full

JNOnSTL · PostApr 28, 2015#2962015-04-28T16:14+00:00

^How is South City not listed as an option here? The most dense area of the region not currently being served by Metrolink.

I guess that makes mine an "Other".

dweebe · PostApr 28, 2015#2972015-04-28T16:21+00:00

I can't wait for the contact smart cards to get rolling. Used them in Chicago a few weeks ago and they're so nice to have as well as use.

moorlander · PostApr 28, 2015#2982015-04-28T17:36+00:00

JNOnSTL wrote:^How is South City not listed as an option here? The most dense area of the region not currently being served by Metrolink.

I guess that makes mine an "Other".

Isn't that nuts!? Whoever created the poll obviously has zero knowledge of what's planned.

dbInSouthCity · PostApr 28, 2015#2992015-04-28T17:42+00:00

^ nothing?

moorlander · PostApr 30, 2015#3002015-04-30T13:17+00:00

"And, realizing that it doesn’t do any good if there are jobs but no way for our citizens to get to them, the mayor is linking affordable housing investments to transportation and strongly supporting the North-South MetroLink expansion."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/ar ... LE.twitter

MetroLink station ridership-- Busiest and least busy?

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