L.A. Metro (Metro) reached a milestone in September, averaging more than more million weekday riders for the first time since the pandemic. The milestone also marks the 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year ridership growth.

Average bus ridership in September also exceeded 800,000 weekday boardings, a post-pandemic ridership record for the system.

Metro’s combined bus and rail ridership in September reached 86.4% of its September 2019 pre-pandemic ridership level. This also exceeds the nationwide transit ridership average of 76% of pre-pandemic levels.

Average weekday boardings on Metro reached 83.6% of September 2019 pre-pandemic levels and 96.6% of the pre-pandemic level on weekends.

“Thanks to the more than 12,000 dedicated public servants who work hard, day and night, rain or shine, Metro is recovering faster than almost any large transit agency in America,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “This 1 million-weekday-rider milestone is a testament to the enormous effort we’ve undertaken to make our system cleaner, safer, easier, more comfortable and more reliable for all the Angelenos who rely on us every day.”

A Closer Look at Bus Ridership

Metro’s bus system saw 20,912,410 trips in September, marking a 6.9% ridership increase compared to last year.

Average weekday bus ridership was 804,279 in September, the highest bus ridership Metro has seen since February 2020.

534,372 trips were taken on Metro buses in September on average. Sundays saw an average of 448,223 trip. This puts September’s weekend bus ridership at 96.3% of pre-pandemic levels.

Ridership on Metro’s two Bus Rapid Transit lines also increased in September. Ridership on the J Line rose 8.3%. Weekend ridership on the J Line exceeded its pre-pandemic level by 6.4%. Ridership on the G Line rose by 3.4%

Catching the Train

Rail boardings grew by nearly 10% in September over the previous year. Metro’s rail ridership now stands at 85.1% of pre-pandemic levels.

Weekday rail boardings grew by 11.7% year-over-year while weekend rail ridership grew 4.81%. Weekend rail ridership in September now stands at 99.4% of pre-pandemic levels.

Metro’s light rail system drove ridership growth in September. The A Line grew by 16.2% year-over-year while ridership on the E Line grew 18%. The C Line grew by 10.7% while the K Line saw a 4.1% growth.

Student Ridership on the Rise

Metro’s GoPass Program, which provides a free transit pass to k-14 students at participating schools, had 1,666,405 boardings. This is a 3% increase over last year which saw 1,610,215 students boarding.

September’s GoPass boardings marked a 77.7% month-over-month increase from August as students head back to school.

Public Safety on Metro

L.A. Metro continues to increase its work to improve public safety with a three-point plan:

• Keep our employees and customers safe and ensure they feel safe through an increased visible presence of uniformed personnel, station improvements and improved bus safety measures.

• Ensure the system is being used only for its intended purpose of transit through fare gate improvements and removal of trespassers.

• Continue to partner with the County, the Cities and Regional Agencies to address societal issues such as homelessness, untreated mental illness, drug addiction.

As part of this strategy, law enforcement partners have expanded their visible presence on the rail system. More Transit Security Officers have been added to enforce L.A. Metro’s Customer Code of Conduct rules on the rail and bus systems.

Metro Transit Security Bus Safety Teams performed end-of-line operations during late-night “Owl” service on some of the busiest bus lines. 

L.A. Metro Ambassadors are also out in force on all six rail lines and five of the busiest bus lines to provide support to customers and keep a watchful eye out for problems.