Sound Transit's light-rail ridership grew in second quarter

Ridership on Sound Transit's Link light-rail system rose 14.5 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago.

The system averaged 73,907 riders each weekday from April 1 through June 30, up from an average of 63,732 riders each weekday second-quarter 2016. Link served 5,997,005 riders in this year's second quarter, according to Sound Transit's most recent ridership report.

The bump in light-rail passengers drove a 6.8 percent increase in Sound Transit's overall ridership, agency officials said in a press release. The agency logged 12,105,372 total boardings across all transportation modes in the second quarter.

In addition, boardings on the Sounder commuter-rail network inched up 1.6 percent year over year. Ridership on the Sounder South line grew 2.7 percent due to the introduction of a new midday train, Sound Transit officials said.

However, Sounder North Line ridership in Q2 2017 fell 7.4 percent year over year.