Metro Ridership Up ~13%

[editor]

METRO RIDERSHIP ON RISE

METRO posted a double-digit ridership growth on its buses and rail in December 2007, jumping 13.6 percent from December 2006.

The largest jump was on METRORail, which topped 20 percent in December 2007 with 883,287 boardings. December 2006 boardings were 734,651.

Ridership on Local and Express buses rose 12.7 percent, from 5,769,712 boardings to 6,500,016 boardings. Park & Ride ridership jumped 14.3 percent, from 549,005 boardings to 627,359 boardings.

METRO credits these increases to new service, including the Baytown and Cypress Park & Rides, increased ridership during the holidays and in the Texas Medical Center, and improvements in scheduling.

Total system ridership, which includes METROVan, METROLift and HOV ridership, rose 10.3 percent in December, from 9,330,035 boardings to 10,293,225 boardings.

Total system ridership, year-to-date, rose 6.8 percent from 30,763,319 boardings to 32,857,290 boardings.

[Jax]

That's cool, and it doesn't surprise me.

Ever since my bike was stolen, I've been commuting daily to Rice and the Medical Center on the Metro Rail daily, and I've never seen it has crowded as it is lately.

Are there any other regular Metro Rail commuters on HAIF?

Edited January 21, 2008 by Jax

[Leon]

That's cool, and it doesn't surprise me.

Ever since my bike was stolen, I've been commuting daily to Rice and the Medical Center on the Metro Rail daily, and I've never seen it has crowded as it is lately.

Are there any other regular Metro Rail commuters on HAIF?

From time to time I take route 18 from WestU to downtown. The sucky part about Metro buses is that the schedule is too infrequent (18 runs every 35 min in rush hour). When I need to go to Med Center I always take the rail from Downtown - that service is superb, beats driving and parking in med center by a mile!

[Jax]

Yeah, a train every 6 minutes during most of the weekday except at night is super convenient.

I agree with you about the busses.

[ricco67]

It will get better when the other lines are added for commuters who save the time taking the train as opposed to driving there.

What makes me rather curious are what the numbers are later at night. If its increased a bit, maybe they would do better to do a gradual increase in hours until it flattens out.

The attempt to run the train until 2:30am a couple of years ago fell flat because there weren't that many people that were familiar with it.

[missmsry]

Yeah, I take the 25 down Richmond to the rail, then either go downtown or to the Med Center. It's so much easier than driving, buying gas and paying for parking. In fact, I choose my doctors depending if they are on the rail line. And yes, the ridership is definitley up.

Edited January 22, 2008 by missmsry

[houstonmacbro]

That's cool, and it doesn't surprise me.

Ever since my bike was stolen, I've been commuting daily to Rice and the Medical Center on the Metro Rail daily, and I've never seen it has crowded as it is lately.

Are there any other regular Metro Rail commuters on HAIF?

Wonder if gas costs are having an effect as well...?

[Standeck]

I take the Park & Ride commuter bus (221) from the Kingsland P&R lot to downtown and that line is so popular that the lot is overflowing with cars parked on sidewalks and along curbs up and down all the aisles.

Metro is introducing a new line (222) from the Cinemark at SH 99 (Grand Parkway) and IH-10 starting on January 28th. That will take some of the parking pressure off of the Kingsland lot. Hopefully it will also include new runs, not just diverting coaches from the existing schedule at Kingsland.

[Trae]

It most likely will include new runs. The lot is only temporary, until METRO builds its transit center (parking garage, stores, etc.).

[Standeck]

Transit Center? In Katy? Cool!

I googled around and did a search here on HAIF

[The Great Hizzy!]

In the meantime, get the word out as best as you can, Stan. The problem right now with the lot (meaning, where the pick up point will be in the lot) is that it will be hard to see by people who aren't aware in advance.

Also, unlike the 221 or 228, the 222 won't be running outbound trips beyond 6:30 PM.

[Standeck]

METRO has had 222 announcements with schedules and maps mounted at all 221 stops downtown as well as at the Kingsland P&R lot (the most likely users of the new line) so there is some awareness. There's also a schedule change notice on the METRO website; looks like the last weekday outbound run is currently set at 6:58 PM.

Only audience not aware are people who used to use the Kingsland lot but gave up due to the terrible overcrowding!

The 222 routing in and out of the Cinemark lot looks clever too; they're going to use the parking lot entrance east of 99 to avoid getting caught up in the traffic jam at the IH-10 and SH 99 intersection (can't wait till they build the flyover). Hope access isn't too terrible from the south in the mornings.

[wakester]

In the meantime, get the word out as best as you can, Stan. The problem right now with the lot (meaning, where the pick up point will be in the lot) is that it will be hard to see by people who aren't aware in advance.

Also, unlike the 221 or 228, the 222 won't be running outbound trips beyond 6:30 PM.

I wonder why they won't get the 229 (bus that does the off peak service and stops at Addicks and Kingsland) to stop at this location? It is not like on 290 where the Cypress P & R is about 10 miles from the NW Station P & R. This one is like right across I-10.

Maybe it is a good thing for 222 riders, if Metro does not have an off peak service then they will pay for a cab if you need to leave during the day or late.

[The Great Hizzy!]

New service is particularly expensive to operate at the onset because ridership typically takes a while to "mature". Ridership projections from METRO suggest that they'll want to offer limited service so as to keep the route viable during its maturation period.

Also, from what I understand, there is going to be a charge for parking if you do not have the new Q card. However, if you have the Q card, parking is free.