Higher gas prices, improving economy
boost demand for Metro Transit services

New preliminary data show King County Metro Transit’s weekday ridership jumped about 7 percent - or an estimated 20,000 daily trips - last month compared to September 2004.  Use of park-and-ride lots across the county was equally strong, increasing 9 percent since gas prices began rising late last spring. 

“While we have seen a steady increase in transit ridership tied directly to the improving economy, this new data strongly suggests rising gas prices are prompting even more residents to ride the bus and choose other alternatives such as carpooling and vanpooling,” Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond said.  

“For the third quarter, overall ridership was up about 3.5 percent over the same period last year.  While this data is still considered preliminary, it clearly demonstrates a linkage between gas prices and ridership.  It also shows Metro is becoming the travel option of choice for thousands of additional King County commuters.”

Trends in park-and-ride usage have been equally dramatic.  Metro estimates an additional 1,175 vehicles per day used its park-and-ride lots during the third quarter of this year compared to the third quarter of 2004.  This is the highest third quarter increase in park-and-ride use in the past 15 years.   Examples of this usage include:

Interstate 5 North Corridor: A 35 percent increase in usage at the North Seattle Park-and-Ride and a 38 percent increase at the Aurora Church of the Nazarene leased lot.

State Route 522 Corridor: A 35 percent increase at the Kenmore Park-and-Ride.

Interstate 90 Corridor: A 16 percent increase at the popular Eastgate Park-and-Ride garage.  Use of this garage has steadily increased since its completion last year.

South I-5/State Route 167 Corridor: A 66 percent increase in usage at Sound Transit’s Kent Parking Garage, which serves Sounder, ST Express and Metro Transit customers.

In addition to increased ridership, Desmond says more commuters are taking advantage of Metro vanpool and carpool programs. Vanpool ridership was up 9 percent last month over the same period last year.  And RideshareOnline experienced an unprecedented 60 percent increase in customers seeking ridematch services last month compared to a year ago – up from 7,500 to 12,600 registered customers. 

Metro’s on-line Trip Planner has been an extremely popular resource, as well.  With more than 1,300 buses traveling on 211 routes during peak commute times, Trip Planner is helping thousands of customers find bus schedules, route maps, and door-to-door directions.

King County Metro Transit and AAA Washington also teamed up earlier this year to develop an online calculator that helps local residents figure out if they can save money by riding the bus. The calculator can be found on Metro Online. The calculator uses the most up-to-date commuting information available, including local gas prices from AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

With gas prices expected to remain high and continued strong job growth, Desmond says Metro will continue to be challenged with finding ways to meet future customer demand given limited revenues to expand service and park-and-ride capacity.

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