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2016 Bus Ridership Stats


Via Garibaldi 8

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Ooh, finally some data for Hudson Yards! 189th, not too shabby. Unfortunately a lot of outerborough stops were under construction in 2016, so a lot of this data isn't very useful, but I'm sure there's some interesting stuff in there.

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What I find interesting is some of the SBS routes are losing passengers... <_<

Yea. I'm not even surprised at this rate. Regular commuters even know it's nothing but a glorified limited. And some are just way too packed sometimes to even board so they give up on it.

 

 

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The top 10 for annual ridership...

10. Bx36

9. Q58

8. M14

7. B35

6. Bx1/2

5. B44

4. B6

3. B46

2. M15 

1. Bx12

 

For the first time since i've been looking at these numbers a Queens route joins the top 10 so welcome to the club, Q58. The Bx19 was this year's dropout. 

 

Other observations

- Nearly all Bronx routes took losses. I'm highly concerned about this given the Bronx routes held nicely up until 2015. 

- Queens routes overall held nicely in 2016. Something must be going on in Queens to where riders are not shunning the buses like they are starting to do in the Bronx and have been doing for a while in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

- The declines in ridership are happening most among high ridership routes (like the ones in our top 10, 8 of the 10 saw a decline in 2016). The same is the case in other U.S. cities where only 1 route in Chicago with >10,000 weekday riders avoided decline and most of Metro LA's busiest bus services continue to see losses as well. 

- We need to really be discussing why major corridors nationwide are the ones seeing the biggest losses (in terms of percentage, not just number) when those corridors benefit from frequent service, which would offset to a degree reliability issues. 

- I'll come back with more when specific routes get mentioned.

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The top 10 for annual ridership...

10. Bx36

9. Q58

8. M14

7. B35

6. Bx1/2

5. B44

4. B6

3. B46

2. M15 

1. Bx12

 

For the first time since i've been looking at these numbers a Queens route joins the top 10 so welcome to the club, Q58. The Bx19 was this year's dropout. 

 

Other observations

- Nearly all Bronx routes took losses. I'm highly concerned about this given the Bronx routes held nicely up until 2015. 

- Queens routes overall held nicely in 2016. Something must be going on in Queens to where riders are not shunning the buses like they are starting to do in the Bronx and have been doing for a while in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

- The declines in ridership are happening most among high ridership routes (like the ones in our top 10, 8 of the 10 saw a decline in 2016). The same is the case in other U.S. cities where only 1 route in Chicago with >10,000 weekday riders avoided decline and most of Metro LA's busiest bus services continue to see losses as well. 

- We need to really be discussing why major corridors nationwide are the ones seeing the biggest losses (in terms of percentage, not just number) when those corridors benefit from frequent service, which would offset to a degree reliability issues. 

- I'll come back with more when specific routes get mentioned.

The Bronx is particularly alarming for a number of reasons.  A lot of the Bronx is hilly and walking can be a pain. That's one of the main reasons I think people stick with the buses.  The express buses have always been utilized in part because of horrible subway service AND safety concerns.  I'm hearing of more people driving these days which is how a lot of people are getting around this mess, which is not good. The gridlock has been incredible.

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The top 10 for annual ridership...

10. Bx36

9. Q58

8. M14

7. B35

6. Bx1/2

5. B44

4. B6

3. B46

2. M15

1. Bx12

 

For the first time since i've been looking at these numbers a Queens route joins the top 10 so welcome to the club, Q58. The Bx19 was this year's dropout.

 

Other observations

- Nearly all Bronx routes took losses. I'm highly concerned about this given the Bronx routes held nicely up until 2015.

- Queens routes overall held nicely in 2016. Something must be going on in Queens to where riders are not shunning the buses like they are starting to do in the Bronx and have been doing for a while in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

- The declines in ridership are happening most among high ridership routes (like the ones in our top 10, 8 of the 10 saw a decline in 2016). The same is the case in other U.S. cities where only 1 route in Chicago with >10,000 weekday riders avoided decline and most of Metro LA's busiest bus services continue to see losses as well.

- We need to really be discussing why major corridors nationwide are the ones seeing the biggest losses (in terms of percentage, not just number) when those corridors benefit from frequent service, which would offset to a degree reliability issues.

- I'll come back with more when specific routes get mentioned.

Interesting thing is that LA is accelerating a project to redo the entire bus routing system - a la Houston - with the idea that the grid system it uses may not be the best way forward.

 

Would be nice if (MTA) had the balls to do something similar and be willing to comprehensively abandon current route orthodoxy if it benefitted riders.

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Here are the most significant increases and losses in ridership by borough, and set of data, for local and express.                 NOTE: The Q50 has been grouped with The Bronx routes and may appear in Bronx sets.

 

LOCAL

 

Weekday Ridership:

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: Bx24 (NYCT; 3.0%) & Bx23 (MTA Bus; 1.1%)

Highest Decrease: Bx15 (NYCT; -8.2%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: B32 (NYCT; 13.0%) & B100 (MTA Bus; 2.1%)

Highest Decrease: B62 (NYCT; -8.9%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: Q20 (NYCT; 6.1%) & Q103 (MTA Bus; 11.7%)

Highest Decrease: Q1 (NYCT; -7.2%) & Q111 (MTA Bus; -6.9%)

 

Manhattan:

Highest Increase: M12 (11.0%)

Highest Decrease: M35 (-24.2%)

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase S93 (13.9%)

Highest Decrease: S54 (-9.1%)

 

 

 

Weekend Ridership

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: Bx18 (NYCT; 8.9%)

Highest Decrease: Bx15 (NYCT; -10.0%) & Bx23 (-3.9%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: B37 (NYCT; 9.2%) & B103 (MTA Bus; 0.1%)

Highest Decrease: B17 (NYCT; -10.2%) & B100 (MTA Bus; -0.8%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: Q44 SBS (NYCT; 3.4%) & Q103 (MTA Bus; 18.1%)

Highest Decrease: Q1 (NYCT; -8.9%) & Q100 (MTA Bus; -7.9%)

 

Manhattan:

Highest Increase: M12 (13.9%)

Highest Decrease: M35 (-29.6%; Note: this route lost an average of 666 riders on the weekends)

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase: S79 SBS (0.0%)

Highest Decrease: S59 (-10.3%)

 

 

 

Annual Ridership:

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: Bx18 (NYCT; 4.8%) & Q50 (MTA Bus; 0.4%)

Highest Decrease: Bx15 (NYCT; -8.4%) & Bx23 (MTA Bus; -0.1%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: B32 (NYCT; 12.4%) & B100 (MTA Bus; 1.9%)

Highest Decrease: B62 (NYCT; -6.7%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: Q20 (NYCT; 5.6%) & Q103 (MTA Bus; 12.6%)

Highest Decrease: Q1 (NYCT; -7.3%) & Q111 (MTA Bus; -5.5%)

 

Manhattan:

Highest Increase: M12 (11.3%)

Highest Decrease: M35 (-25.6%)

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase: S93 (13.9%)

Highest Decrease: S54 (-9.1%)

 

 

 

EXPRESS

 

Weekday Ridership:

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: BxM4 (0.5%)

Highest Decrease: BxM7 (-2.7%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: X28/38 (NYCT; 0.7%) & BM5 (MTA Bus; 6.1%)

Highest Decrease: X27/37 (NYCT; -0.5%) & BM3 (MTA Bus; -4.1%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: QM16 (MTA Bus; 7.9%)

Highest Decrease: X64 (NYCT; -4.8%) & QM1/31 (MTA Bus; -17.0%)

 

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase: X21 (24.2%)

Highest Decrease: X9 (-7.8%)

 

 

 

Weekend Ridership:

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: N/A

Highest Decrease: BxM11 (-11.6%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: BM3 (MTA Bus; 11.3%)

Highest Decrease: X27/37 (NYCT; -0.3%), BM2 (MTA Bus; -0.9%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: QM15 (MTA Bus; 2.1%)

Highest Decrease: QM2 (MTA Bus;-14.6%)

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase: X17 (7.3%)

Highest Decrease: X1 (-1.3%)

 

 

 

Annual Ridership:

 

 

Bronx:

Highest Increase: BxM4 (0.2%)

Highest Decrease: BxM18 (-3.2%)

 

Brooklyn:

Highest Increase: X28/38 (NYCT; 1.8%) & BM5 (MTA Bus; 6.1%)

Highest Decrease: X27/37 (NYCT; 0.4%) & BM3 (MTA Bus; -3.5%)

 

Queens:

Highest Increase: QM16 (MTA Bus; 7.9%)

Highest Decrease: X64 (NYCT; -4.7%) & QM1/31 (MTA Bus; -17.0%)

 

Staten Island:

Highest Increase: X21 (24.2%)

Highest Decrease: X9 (-7.8%)

 

 

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Just thought you should know this thread is in the Subway section....

 

Anywho, I'm surprised the Bx15 lost riders but at the same time I'm not. With the way 125th gridlock is, it's a possibility a big part of those losses are 125th riders who opted to walk.

 

 

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Yeah that's a mistake... Just realized it now... 

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Top 10 by borough

 

Bronx

Bx12

Bx1/2

Bx36

Bx19

Bx15

Bx9

Bx40/42

Bx6

Bx41

Bx35

 

 

Brooklyn

B46

B6

B44

B35

B82

B41

B1

B15

B8

B38

 

Manhattan

M15

M14

M86

M101

M100

M60

M4

M96

M34

M79

 

Queens

Q58

Q44

Q27

Q46

Q17

Q43

Q20

Q54

Q85

Q5

 

Staten Island

S79

S53

S48/98

S46/96

S44/94

S78

S74/84

S40/90

S76/86

S61/91

 

Express (NYCT)
X17

X1

X27/37

X10

X28/38

X22

X12/42

X5

X7

X2

 

Queens (MTA) Bus

Q10

Q65

Q25

Q23

Q53

Q66

Q60

Q111

Q6

Q8

 

Express (MTA) Bus

BxM7

BxM9

QM5/35

QM2/32

BxM8

BxM10

QM15

BxM1

BM1

QM24/34

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The M35 lost ridership because most of the people that get on are living in the Ward's Island Shelter, and most of them do not have fare payment. And since it got switched to artics, the operation on that line is less frequent than it had when it was running out of OS.

 

 

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My observations and comments:

 

B32/B62: Lol at the "rivalry" on both lines. The B32 likely gained some B62 riders, but I know it isn't gaining all of them (the B32 gain 27.5K riders, while the B62 lost over 213K riders). I have been seeing emptier B62 buses when I take the buses, and they have been cutting back on service too. Before, on sunday evenings, buses would be SRO, and would even have standees. I rarely see that nowadays. Just one example; I'm pretty sure there are many more.

 

B37: Nice to see the route increase in ridership.

 

BM1,2,3,4: Looks like another drop for those lines on weekdays. The interesting thing is that ridership on those routes increased on Saturdays (except for the BM2). The decrease isn't major on the BM2 (0.9%), so I'm not worried about that.

 

M23 SBS: It's not a fair comparison, but M23 service has decrease last year. I will be waiting for this year's ridership stats when they come out next year to see just how (little) it impacts M23 ridership.

 

M35: Well, what can you do.

 

Q3: Interestingly enough, this route lost less than 50 annual riders, and is the only route which lost less than 100 riders.

 

Q11/21/52/53: 64K more riders took the Q11 last year, 21K more took the Q21, and a whopping 78K more took the Q52 last year....and then there's the Q53, which lost 12K last year. Although the Q53 had an increase in weekday ridership, it lost a lot more weekend ridership.

 

Q38: This line is still seeing increases in weekday ridership, yet the agency refuses to add more buses to the route. When will they get that people get flagged waiting for bus. Last year I saw a traffic checker by 85 Street, which is great....if only it wasn't the least packed I've seen Q38's all year. The MTA will likely believe that because of that, service is sufficient (when it is not by any chance, and the ridership numbers back me up). I am not surprised by the weekend decrease, because of unreliability. Buses have shown up in twos or threes when running on 20 minute & 30 minute headways. 

 

Q42: Shoutout to the Q42 for having an increase of 28 annual riders and not making a dent in the annual percentage increase, lol.

 

Q67: Nice to see weekend ridership increase.

 

QM's: I really thought the MTA was going to put the 3 Avenue variants into their own rows. Oh well, maybe next year.

 

QM1: 2015 was the last year where QM1 service ran during the off peak period. Looking at 2016 stats, ridership dropped by 93 riders (17% of ridership). I know some of those trips were well used (of those that were cut), but it shows that ridership was pretty low outside of those buses cut. The drop makes sense. You would think that riders would switch over to the QM5.

 

QM2: IDK why, but 2016 was the second consecutive year where the QM2's weekend ridership dipped by more than 10%. The decrease was greater this year than last year. I can't say that tunnel work is causing this decrease, since the tunnel work started in mid-September, and the decrease accounts for the whole year (compared to like, 1/3 of the year). I don't believe that many people gave up on the QM2 because of the tunnel work, but it affects ridership. I expect next year's numbers to decrease on this line during the weekends as well.

 

QM10: I wonder when this route will stop losing riders. It's been losing riders every year since 2008 (back when ridership was at 575 weekday riders). Nowadays, ridership is at 285 per day, which reflects a 50.4% decrease since then.

 

BM5/QM15: Well, looks like the QM15 finally passed the 200 rider mark for Saturday Ridership. Both routes increased in weekday, saturday, and annual ridership, which is great. I expect a decrease this year because of tunnel construction though

 

QM24/25/34: Ridership decreased on the Midtown variants by 13, but increased by 14 on the Downtown variant. Great to see a net increase in ridership on the express buses, lol. Surprised that more people haven't switched, because of how horrid the Q38 is again nowadays with reliability. 

 

S55: The S55 has been losing ridership for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation in previous years. 

 

X10 & X17: Nice to see the route gained 13.7K more riders last year. Likely will be overseen by the gain of 87K riders on the X17 though.  

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My observations and comments:

 

QM2: IDK why, but 2016 was the second consecutive year where the QM2's weekend ridership dipped by more than 10%. The decrease was greater this year than last year. I can't say that tunnel work is causing this decrease, since the tunnel work started in mid-September, and the decrease accounts for the whole year (compared to like, 1/3 of the year). I don't believe that many people gave up on the QM2 because of the tunnel work, but it affects ridership. I expect next year's numbers to decrease on this line during the weekends as well.

Because traffic along 59th street is horrible.  I used to take it myself and have stopped.  I don't want to take two hours to get back from Whitestone.  The hell with that. If I go, it has to be when traffic is very light.

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My observations and comments:

 

B32/B62: Lol at the "rivalry" on both lines. The B32 likely gained some B62 riders, but I know it isn't gaining all of them (the B32 gain 27.5K riders, while the B62 lost over 213K riders). I have been seeing emptier B62 buses when I take the buses, and they have been cutting back on service too. Before, on sunday evenings, buses would be SRO, and would even have standees. I rarely see that nowadays. Just one example; I'm pretty sure there are many more.

There's no likely about it & of course it isn't gaining all of em... Lol....

 

The phenomena w/ the 2 routes has been going on since the B32's inception & things are only going to get worse for the B62... We've been talking about the B62's losses b/w Queens & the (7), but I'm going to point out something that's not mentioned about the route (that I haven't seen on here anyway)....

 

Simply put, the demand b/w Jewish Williamsburg & the second it leaves the confines of the Farragut houses, has dwindled drastically over the years.... Yes, even before the advent of the B32 this has been going on.... The only consistent riderbase the route has left, is the usage b/w Downtown & the Farragut houses (which its always shared w/ the B57, but is still the more prevalent/popular the option over the B57)....

 

I'd argue it's losing riders within hipster Wiliiamsburg as well - not to the B32, but to bikes, peds, and taxi's......

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I wonder what made the Bx39 drop out of the top 10?

You meant the Bx19....

 

Anyway, both carry heavy, but there's been a spike in bus usage along (commercial) Grand av I have no explanation for.... Have it not be for the Q59, the Q58 would garner around 31-32k pax daily.... I'd venture to say that a lot of those "losses" on the Bx19 are farebeaters though/also.... I still think the Bx19 carries more than the Q58 singularly....

 

Let there be a Bx19 SBS (lol) & that number will drop down to 25k in the next 3 years......

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The weekday numbers out in Queens held nicely but i'm highly disappointed with the weekend numbers. You have routes like the Q27 and Q46 pull more average weekday riders then Saturday + Sunday riders. I get the sense that in most of Queens people will use transit to commute to work but on weekends will pull the car out if they go anywhere. We need to do some work as far as encouraging transit use during off-hours in Queens. 

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For the first time since i've been looking at these numbers a Queens route joins the top 10 so welcome to the club, Q58. The Bx19 was this year's dropout. 

 

With how bad the subway in Queens has been recently it's no surprise bus ridership is going up especially on a key route like the Q58 The Flushing to Grand Ave link is very useful when one of the lines shuts down.

 

QM's: I really thought the MTA was going to put the 3 Avenue variants into their own rows. Oh well, maybe next year.

 

QM1: 2015 was the last year where QM1 service ran during the off peak period. Looking at 2016 stats, ridership dropped by 93 riders (17% of ridership). I know some of those trips were well used (of those that were cut), but it shows that ridership was pretty low outside of those buses cut. The drop makes sense. You would think that riders would switch over to the QM5.

 

QM2: IDK why, but 2016 was the second consecutive year where the QM2's weekend ridership dipped by more than 10%. The decrease was greater this year than last year. I can't say that tunnel work is causing this decrease, since the tunnel work started in mid-September, and the decrease accounts for the whole year (compared to like, 1/3 of the year). I don't believe that many people gave up on the QM2 because of the tunnel work, but it affects ridership. I expect next year's numbers to decrease on this line during the weekends as well.

 

QM10: I wonder when this route will stop losing riders. It's been losing riders every year since 2008 (back when ridership was at 575 weekday riders). Nowadays, ridership is at 285 per day, which reflects a 50.4% decrease since then.

 

BM5/QM15: Well, looks like the QM15 finally passed the 200 rider mark for Saturday Ridership. Both routes increased in weekday, saturday, and annual ridership, which is great. I expect a decrease this year because of tunnel construction though

 

QM24/25/34: Ridership decreased on the Midtown variants by 13, but increased by 14 on the Downtown variant. Great to see a net increase in ridership on the express buses, lol. Surprised that more people haven't switched, because of how horrid the Q38 is again nowadays with reliability. 

 

S55: The S55 has been losing ridership for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation in previous years. 

 

X10 & X17: Nice to see the route gained 13.7K more riders last year. Likely will be overseen by the gain of 87K riders on the X17 though.  

 

QM2 is one of CP's shitty off peak routes no surprise there.

 

As for the BM5,QM15,24,25,&34 It might have a relation to how horrible the subway in queens has been recently. 

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