Metro-North Reaches Ridership Record
East of Hudson service on the Metro-North set a new ridership record in 2013. Here is more:
Metro-North’s annual east of Hudson ridership last year was the highest in the railroad’s history, at 81.8 million, surpassing the previous east of Hudson record of 81.5 million rides that was set in 2008.
This is an increase of 0.7% above calendar-adjusted 2012 levels. Combined ridership on the east and west of Hudson markets was 83.4 million.
In 2013, the Harlem Line was the fastest growing line with a 1.2% increase and carried 26,949,667 riders.
The New Haven Line was up 0.5% and recorded its highest ridership ever in 2013 (carrying 38,975,052 customers) an increase of more than 1 million annual rides since 2008, and 175,000 more than in 2012, the previous record year when the line carried approximately 38.8 million customers.
The Hudson Line grew 0.3% in 2013 and carried 15,877,559 customers.
During the past year, commutation ridership grew 1.8%, reflecting the strengthening regional economy, while non-commutation ridership decreased 1% from the previous year, due to a variety of factors including weather and major service disruptions.
Metro-North rail ridership in the West of Hudson territory including the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines was down, falling 2.3% to 1,576,227 rides in 2013. Individually, ridership on the Port Jervis Line fell 3.6% and ridership on the Pascack Valley Line was essentially unchanged from the previous year. While the ridership drop is not as pronounced as in previous years, it reflects a customer base that has been slow to recover since Hurricanes Sandy and Irene. West of Hudson ridership peaked in 2008 at almost 2.1 million.
It is nice to see the service being utilized as much as it has. To be honest, I feel if more of an investment was made in terms of infrastructure, we could see the full potential of service. However seeing such an investment is just a transit dream in the current economic climate.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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