Ridership numbers

From Portland Tribune, Green Line helps push up TriMet’s MAX ridership

TriMet said Monday that the mid-September opening of the eastside Green Line has pushed weekly MAX light-rail ridership up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.

The Green Line that connects downtown Portland with Clackamas Town Center averaged 17,000 weekday trips in its first three weeks of operation.

TriMet reported that there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and WES between Sept. 13 and 30, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier. Ridership is down mostly because of the sour economy, unemployment and lower gasoline prices this fall, according to TriMet.

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By By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian, Oregonlive.com, "Green Line boosts MAX, but WES, bus ridership continue declines"

The opening of the Green Line boosted MAX ridership in September, but the lagging economy and service cuts continued declines on bus lines and Westside Express commuter rail, TriMet said today.

With the opening of the Green Line, light rail ridership jumped nearly 12 percent compared to September 2008. The Green Line, stretching from Portland State University to the Clackamas Town Center, averaged 17,000 weekday trips.

Go to the Hard Drive commuting blog to get the complete ridership numbers for September.

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Portland Business Journal, With new Green Line, MAX ridership up

While fewer bus trips were taken in September, MAX ridership increased.

TriMet attributed the MAX increase to the opening of the MAX Green Line.

With the opening of the Green Line, weekly ridership on MAX increased nearly 12 percent, compared with September 2008. The Green Line also averaged 17,000 weekday trips.

Overall, weekly MAX trips increased 11.8 percent to 785,000 trips; weekday MAX trips were up 9.8 percent to 121,200 trips; weekend trips were up 19.1 percent to 179,000 trips; and rush hour trips increased 6.7 percent to 36,400 trips.

On the MAX Green Line weekday trips totaled 17,000 and weekend trips totaled 31,900.

Overall, there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and Westside Express Service trains in September 2009, a 4 percent decline over September 2008. TriMet said ridership is impacted by service cuts that took effect this month, the continued recession, double-digit unemployment and lower gas prices that were at record levels last year.

Weekly bus trips declined 9.5 percent to 1,202,700 trips; weekday bus trips declined 9.4 percent to 200,700 trips; weekend bus trips declined 10 percent to 199,200 trips; and rush hour bus trips were down 14.8 percent to 64,700 trips.

Weekly Westside Express Service trips totaled 5,625 and weekday rush hour trips averaged 1,125 boardings.