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Another record-setting quarter for Sound Transit ridership

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Link light rail weekday ridership leaps 17 percent above last year

Sound Transit ridership continued its surging ridership growth into the second quarter of 2014 with more than 8 million boardings, a jump of 9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2013. Link light rail average weekday ridership grew 17 percent to more than 33,000.

Link has generated double-digit annual growth since it opened in July, 2009. The second quarter also saw significant growth on the Sounder north commuter rail line between Everett and Seattle with more than 73,000 weekday boardings, an 11 percent increase over the same quarter in 2013.

Second quarter ridership by the numbers:

  • Central Link light rail: 33,692 average weekday boardings and 2.8 million boardings for the quarter
  • ST Express regional buses: 61,818 average weekday boardings and 4.4 million boardings for the quarter (7 percent weekday increase from Q2 2013)
  • Sounder commuter rail: 12,469 average weekday boardings and 817,127 boardings for the quarter (8 percent weekday increase from Q2 2013)

The full annual ridership report can be found here: www.soundtransit.org/Ridership

In the coming months the Sound Transit Board will continue a process to plan for the projected 30-percent population growth the region will see by 2040 by updating the region's Long-Range Plan. Updating the plan will set the stage for considering where light rail and other regional transit services should expand after current voter-approved projects are complete.

Transit is critical to the region's transportation system. Every rider is someone who doesn't compete for space on congested roads, and transit expansions offer some of the greatest opportunities to expand the transportation system's capacity.

Sound Transit is continuing its strong track record of delivering voter-approved projects. The University Link light rail extension is set to open six to nine months early in the first quarter of 2016 and is tracking more than $100 million below budget. The agency remains on target to deliver more than 30 miles of light rail expansions by 2023 despite a cumulative 29 percent reduction in funding for the 15-year Sound Transit package due to the impact of that national recession.