D.C. Leads Ridership Surge
Biggest Increase Is Found in City

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Metrorail ridership grew faster among District residents in the past five years than among residents of any other jurisdiction in the transit agency's service area, according to a rail passenger survey.

Residents of the District -- where 40 of 86 stations are located -- took an estimated 192,503 trips on a typical weekday last spring, up 17 percent from five years before. By comparison, riders living in Montgomery and Prince George's counties took 249,856 trips, up 8 percent, and residents of Metro's five Virginia jurisdictions logged 190,740 trips, a 4 percent increase.

Ridership at night, after the evening rush, grew faster than at any other time of day. Metro officials said the 22 percent increase, to 82,318 trips, reflected downtown Washington's commercial revitalization.

Some District stations have benefited from a development surge in recent years, including Gallery Place, adjacent to the Verizon Center, and Union Station and Columbia Heights, both near trendy neighborhoods. Other stations where development has boosted ridership include New York Avenue, Metro Center, Tenleytown, Woodley Park and U Street.

"We're seeing new residential growth and new activities for people to go to after hours," said Nat Bottigheimer, Metro's chief of planning and development. "If you take the train in the evening, you will see a packed train in downtown."

A copy of the survey, obtained by The Washington Post, has not yet been officially presented to the Metro board.

The survey was conducted from mid-April to the end of May, with some follow-up in June. More than 260,000 questionnaires were distributed to weekday riders at all 86 stations, and more than 66,000 valid responses were returned, officials said. The previous survey was conducted in May 2002.

The survey found that many more people are getting to Metro stations by walking, biking and taking the bus than did five years ago. Their reasons for using Metro are becoming more diverse, Bottigheimer said.

"It used to be dominated by the peak periods and commutes, but now you see people using it for shopping, for entertainment, for accessing Zipcars and Flexcars," he said, referring to two car-sharing programs.

Metro will use the rail survey, conducted by WB&A Market Research, for planning and budgeting. The survey determines the proportion of rail riders living in each of the eight jurisdictions that help pay for Metro. Where riders live is one factor Metro uses in a complicated formula to calculate the subsidy each jurisdiction provides the transit agency.

Systemwide, Metro customers pay about 55 percent of the actual cost of their rides; the rest of the operating costs come from state and local governments and advertising.

Metro officials said the ridership numbers will be used to adjust the formula, but they are still analyzing the data and do not know how the formula will change.

In any event, those changes are independent of proposed increases in bus and subway fares and parking fees that are scheduled to be the subject of public hearings next week.

A more accurate snapshot of who rides the subway, where they ride and when also helps Metro planners decide where to add escalators, pedestrian walkways and lighting.

If a station is going to be heavily used at night by people who walk rather than drive, Metro and the local governments need to make sure that the paths to heavily trafficked neighborhoods are well lighted and that lines of sight are not blocked by bushes, Bottigheimer said.

Metro is drawing many more Maryland and Virginia passengers from outside its service area. Those riders are taking 12 percent more weekday trips than they did five years ago, with most of those riders living in the Baltimore area and Anne Arundel and Howard counties in Maryland and Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford counties in Virginia.

During the morning rush, more people are walking, taking a bus or biking to stations than did five years ago. Commuters hopping on a Metrobus or other local bus took 52,572 trips during a typical morning rush this past spring, a 26 percent increase from five years ago.

In Alexandria, almost 50 percent of morning rush-hour commuters took the bus to the rail station. In Arlington and the District, close to 70 percent of morning rush-hour riders walked to the train station.

Biking is also much more popular. Those who bike to a Metrorail station are still a tiny percentage of all riders, but they took 1,150 trips during a typical morning rush this past spring, a 60 percent increase from five years ago.

Of Metro's 86 stations, 76 have bike parking. In July, the agency began replacing its older bike racks. The investment in new bike racks could be a cost-effective way to increase ridership, officials said.