Trolley Ridership Topped 40 million for the First Time; New Rapid Service Fuels Record
San Diego – The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) announced today a new ridership record with 96,712,980 trips on MTS buses and Trolleys in Fiscal Year 2015, breaking the previous record of 95,026,413 million set in Fiscal Year 2014. Additionally, the Trolley
“We added a significant amount of service with Rapid and the public responded,” said Paul Jablonski, chief executive officer for MTS. A second straight year of record ridership and an 18 percent increase since 2010 demonstrates that transit is an affordable and attractive option for San Diego residents and visitors.”
Overall, the MTS bus system logged 56,578,389 trips in FY 2015, a 2 percent increase over FY 2014. Trolley ridership passed the 40 million mark for the first time in its history, increasing 1 percent over the previous year from 39,694,624 trips in FY 2014 to 40,083,465. Following are some ridership highlights for MTS Trolley and bus services:
The Blue Line, with 16,532,209 riders in FY 2015, was the most-used Trolley line. Ridership increased 9.5 percent over the previous fiscal year. Green Line and Orange Line ridership both decreased slightly. The Silver Line carried 32,944 passengers around the downtown loop on the San Diego Vintage Trolley.
The expansion of high-frequency, limited-stop Rapid service was a significant factor that led to increases in bus ridership and the overall ridership record. Three new Rapid routes launched in 2014: Rapid 215 provides all-day, every-day service between downtown and SDSU; Rapid 235 provides all-day, every-day trips between Escondido and downtown, and Rapid 237 travels between Rancho Bernardo and UC San Diego on weekdays. In total, Rapid service accounted for 2,654,308 trips toward the new ridership record.
Some MTS bus routes saw major ridership increases, including most routes connecting to UC San Diego, University City and the Sorrento Valley area. Bus routes with notable ridership increases over the previous year include Route 950 (Otay Mesa; 42,446 trips), Route 929 (South Bay communities; 65,625 trips), and Route 27 (Pacific Beach-Kearny Mesa; 28,086 trips). The busiest bus route in the system continues to be Route 7 (downtown – La Mesa; 3,473,855 trips).
Special events also contributed to the new record, which are big economic drivers for the region. This included historic concerts at PETCO Park by Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones. And for Comic-Con, MTS achieved record ridership in FY 2015 with 239,227 extra trips taken during the four-day event, an 11 percent increase over the previous year.
As the table suggests, MTS ridership has steadily grown over the past six years and is expected to surpass 100 million passengers in FY 2016.
MTS operates 95 bus routes and three Trolley lines on 53 miles of double-tracked railway. Every weekday more than 300,000 passenger trips are taken on MTS bus and Trolley services. MTS set a new record in FY 2015 with more than 96.7 million passenger trips. For more information on how you can use public transportation and save money, go to www.sdmts.com.
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