San Diego – San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) announced today (August 22, 2024) that ridership increased more than 10% over the past year as more residents choose to use the transit system to get around. During the last fiscal year (July 2023 – June 2024), the transit agency recorded 75,663,343 passenger trips, an increase of 10.4% over FY 2023 (68,511,363).
“The recent increase in ridership has put MTS on track to welcome even more riders in the years ahead,” said Stephen Whitburn, MTS Board Chair and San Diego City Councilmember, District 3. “This success is a testament to the partnership between riders and the dedicated MTS staff and board to improve public transportation in our region. MTS is committed to providing a comprehensive public transportation experience to meet the needs of all of our riders.”
“We believe the increase in ridership is due to several factors,” said Sharon Cooney, MTS CEO. “People are working from home less often or not at all, MTS offers a reliable alternative to driving a car, and using public transportation is much more affordable than driving. With inflation, rising housing costs, and tight pockets, residents are looking for any way possible to save money. Using public transportation is a great way to do that.”
(MTS ridership totals for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, broken down by bus service and trolley service. MTS Access (paratransit) totals are not broken out in the table above but are included in the total ridership column. Paratransit ridership is 249,662 for 2023 and 314,099 for 2024, an increase of 25.8%.)
Other MTS ridership milestones include:
- The number of young passengers increased by 22.7% compared to the previous year, recording 6,839,876 passenger trips from its more than 113,000 young passengers using a Youth Opportunity Pass.
- Thirteen (13) bus routes experienced increases of 20% or more (Routes 14, 25, 83, 833, 851, 854, 872, 891, 906, 907, 946, 964, 985).
- Eight (8) bus routes exceeded one million trips (Routes 7, 13, 215, 929, 201, 202, 30 and 235).
- The busiest month for FY24 was October 2023, with 6,929,191 passenger trips.
The agency also reported that it had a week in May with an average of 271,000 riders per day, the highest week on record since the start of the pandemic. During the pandemic, MTS experienced a sharp decline in ridership as hundreds of thousands of San Diegans stayed home. Due to the loss of ridership, and because approximately 25% of MTS’ system operation is supported by fare revenue, the agency is experiencing a multi-million dollar structural budget deficit.
But now, the transit agency is seeing an uptick in ridership, consistently reaching between 85% and 90% of pre-pandemic ridership, thanks to agency-wide efforts to attract more riders. These efforts include an increased security presence throughout the system and a new Rapid Bus Network route connecting Imperial Beach and Otay Mesa. Other factors contributing to the increased ridership include workers returning to the office, students returning to school, housing density, special events, and more.
The agency also plans to continue implementing improvements in the coming years to make public transportation more reliable and accessible. These improvements include an overnight express bus service between the border and downtown San Diego, increased bus and trolley frequency, rehabilitation of the Orange Line trolley infrastructure, and charging infrastructure for the transition to zero emissions. These improvements will be funded in part with state funds obtained by Senate Bill 125 and will be implemented once the funds are provided to MTS.
Source: “MTS Ridership Increased 10 Percent in Fiscal Year 2024,” August 22, 2024 San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) press release.
Above and corresponding images appearing on the home page: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
