More people riding Sound Transit light rail, data shows

A Sound Transit performance report comparing October ridership with statistics from a year ago shows ups and downs.

Overall, ridership on the transit system is up by about 23 percent in 2016 when compared to the same time frame in 2015. That equates to about 722,000 rides. The opening of additional light rail stations at the University of Washington, Capitol Hill, and Angle Lake are believed to have contributed to the dramatic increase.

Sound Transit Octobers 2015 and 2016

• Sound Transit Express ridership went down by 4.1 percent — about 67,000 people. Sound Transit believes this is partly due to there being one less weekday in October between 2015 and 2016.

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• Sounder ridership decreased by 2.1 percent — about 8,000. The one less weekday is also being cited for this decrease.

• Tacoma Link light rail ridership lost 7,000 rides between the Octobers. That equates to 7.6 percent.

• Link light rail ridership shot up by 78.4 percent. That’s around 803,000 rides. Breaking it down — weekday, Saturday, and Sunday boarding averages went up by 74.3 percent, 90.4 percent, and 48.6 percent respectively.

Link light rail is also cited as one contributing factor to Paratransit’s ridership increase of 15. 7 percent. This is a form of transportation, usually vans, that transport disabled riders. The service was often used to get to light rail stations.

The decrease in Express bus service and increase in light rail could be why the system recently saw the first time light rail ridership exceed that of the bus service.

The October comparisons echo similar recent statistics released by Sound Transit that detail its third quarter numbers.

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