Sound Transit logs first-quarter rail ridership growth

Sound Transit logged continued growth in its weekday rail ridership during first-quarter 2015, with the agency reporting increases on its light-rail and commuter services.

Sound Transit announced today that its Link light-rail ridership increase 7 percent to 62,285 average weekday boardings in first-quarter 2015 compared with a year ago.
The Link light-rail system ended the quarter with 4.4 million boardings.

For its part, the Tacoma Link light-rail system experienced a 12 percent increase in weekday ridership for quarter. Trains on that light-rail system carried an average of 3,655 riders each weekday, and finished the quarter with a total of 264,546 boardings, Sound Transit officials said.

Weekday ridership along the Sounder commuter-rail system jumped 18 percentage points during Q1. The number of average weekday boardings came in at 13,845, while there was a total of 892,262 boardings in the quarter.

"The ridership trend delivers a clear message: Demand for transit service continues to rise, and will only accelerate as more people live and work here, and our roadways get even more crowded," said Sound Transit Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine in a statement.