(Source: Caltrain press release, April 5, 2012)
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain’s annual ridership count confirms what riders already know – more people are riding the train than ever before.
Initial findings from the annual ridership count presented today at the monthly meeting of the Caltrain Board of Directors show average weekday ridership at an all-time high, 42,354, an increase of 4,575 passengers per weekday, or 12.1 percent higher than 2011. This marks the second year ridership has increased, despite service cuts and fare increases driven by Caltrain’s on-going fiscal challenges.
Conducted in February, when ridership is relatively low, the count shows many of Caltrain’s most popular trains have more riders than seats. Ridership is higher in August and September.
Caltrain’s ability to add capacity on the rail system is constrained by its current technology. Electrifying and modernizing the rail system would allow substantial increases in the numbers of riders the railroad could carry.
Ridership on trains during peak commute hours increased from 18,262 in 2011 to 20,473 this year. Also notable, ridership on evening trains went from 2,162 to 2,658, up 23 percent over 2011.
Ridership increased at 27 out of 29 stations, with only Blossom Hill and San Martin seeing no increase.
San Francisco continued to be the most popular station, with 9,670 riders using the station on an average weekday. The highest increase in ridership was at the San Jose Diridon station, which increased nearly 19 percent, from 2,681 in 2011 to 3,187 in 2012. Ridership at the Palo Alto station, the second-most popular station, increased 15.7 percent, from 4,028 in 2011 to 4,661 in 2012.
Ridership hit an initial peak of 35,609 in 2001, at the height of the dot.com boom. The new high in this year’s count is 18.9 percent higher.