Metro ridership increases by 10%, sets record since COVID pandemic

LA Metro delivered more than 23.4 million rides in April -- a 10% increase in total system ridership compared to last year in the same month -- and the highest ridership level recorded since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, officials announced Wednesday.

Metro delivered more than 18.2 million rides on its buses in April, along with almost 5.2 million rides on the rail system. In a statement, Metro said ridership was especially high on weekends in April, rising 14% year over year and reaching 88% of its April 2019 level, before the pandemic began.

"While remote work continues to depress our weekday ridership, I'm pleased that we've recovered nearly 90% of our pre-pandemic ridership on the weekends," Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said in a statement.

Metro officials said weekend ridership has become a bigger share of the overall ridership in the past three years. In April 2019, average weekend ridership was just 55% of average weekday ridership, but compared to this month, average weekend ridership was 66.4% of the average weekday ridership.

Metro's efforts in the past year to increase ridership included restoring bus service to its pre-pandemic level; hiring more than 1,000 new transit operators; opening the initial segment of the K Line from Expo/Crenshaw Station to Westchester/Veterans station in Inglewood; and initiating Drug-Free Metro, a campaign intended to reduce drug-related crimes.