Chart of the Day: US LRT Lines by Expected v. Actual Ridership

Here’s a cool chart shared on Twitter by a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, showing expected v. actual ridership numbers for different light rail lines around the country.

Light Rail Ridership Chart

I am one of the people that always assumes transit planners low-ball the ridership predictions, so that they can announce (often right away) that the new transit line is exceeding expectations. But while that always happens in the Twin cities, apparently that’s not always the case around the rest of the country (e.g. Denver, San Jose). It’s nice to see that MSP light rail is at top of the heap, just behind Seattle, when it comes to national rail transit performance.

Good work!

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.