With December 2018 ridership figures tallied, we have some good news to share with you about ridership!
This month marks the one-year anniversary of MetroExpress operating on the new MoPac Express Lanes. Ridership increases on MetroExpress routes have been stellar! With added service and the use of the express lanes that help deliver faster and more reliable service, more people are choosing MetroExpress as an efficient way to get between home in surrounding communities and work, school, appointments and fun in Austin’s core. In the seven months since the start of Cap Remap, Capital Metro’s largest-ever bus system redesign, ridership on our MetroExpress routes has seen an increase of more than 32%.
System-wide ridership has also seen steady increases since we launched Cap Remap in June 2018. A seven-month analysis reveals that system-wide ridership increased 3% since the Cap Remap began.
While these early ridership results are great, we’ll continue to work to meet our customers’ needs and expectations, and to improve our entire system’s efficiency and coverage with the resources we have available.
December 2018 vs December 2017 comparison:
System-wide ridership this December increased more than 5% compared to the same month the year before. With an emphasis on improved service levels comparable to weekday service, Saturday and Sunday averages were also up – more than 11% and 22% respectively. Ridership gains can be seen on several fronts. Here are some of the highlights:
- MetroExpress: more than 27%
- MetroRapid: 17%
- MetroRideShare: 11%
- MetroRail: 6% increase
- MetroBus: nearly 6%
- “Fixed-route” combined (MetroBus, UT Shuttles and MetroRapid): nearly 3%