Metro rail ridership is way up, buses flat

Gold Line north of downtown. LAO

Average weekday ridership on Metro's rail lines in September soared to 357,096, up nearly 12 percent over the same time last year and 16 percent over 2010. Higher gas prices, plus the opening of the Expo Line and the extending of the Orange Line busway to Chatsworth were all factors. From the Long Beach Press-Telegram, citing Metro numbers:

In September, the Metro Blue Line between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles carried an average weekday ridership of 92,120 customers, an increase of 10 percent; the Green Line between Norwalk and Redondo Beach recorded 46,393 riders, up 3.4 percent; the Gold Line between East Los Angeles and Pasadena logged 41,987 riders, rising 10.6 percent; and the Red and Purple subway lines between downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood or Koreatown averaged 155,940 weekday boardings in September, a 2 percent increase.

Ridership on the Metro Orange Line, which now includes boardings from the new 4-mile extension to Chatsworth, soared to 31,787 average passengers per weekday, up 18 percent. In addition, the new Expo Line, which opened two new stations in June, reported 11,347 weekday boardings in its May start-up reports and surpassed 20,000 boardings in September.....

Ridership on Metro's bus system over the same one-year period held steady with a slight increase of less than 1 percent, averaging more than 1.18 million boarding passengers on an average weekday in September 2012, officials said.

Also Monday: Metro and other officials held a news conference to urge that Expo Line construction continue despite a lawsuit by neighbors west of Culver City.