advertisement

---

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (LACMTA) rail and bus ridership rose by double digits in October compared with the same month a year ago.

LACMTA's total Metro Rail ridership soared by more than 23 percent to 9.9 million boardings last month, LACMTA officials said in a prepared statement.

Metro Rail's average weekday boardings on the 87.7-mile system increased 19 percent to 360,901 compared with October 2011's total.

Average weekday boardings rose 19.5 percent on the Metro Blue line, 8.7 percent on the Green, 15.3 percent on the Gold and 8.1 percent on the Red/Purple.

After opening two stations in June, the new Expo Line continued to record increased weekday boardings, from 11,347 in its May start-up reports to 21,382 boardings in October.

Metro's bus system posted a 2.1 percent increase to 1.2 million average weekday boardings last month compared with the same period a year ago.

The agency attributed train ridership increases in part to fluctuating gas prices, and an expanding Metro rail and bus system.