T ridership grows at a record pace

Acting MBTA General Manager Jonathan Davis has announced that record numbers of riders continue to use the nation’s fifth busiest public transportation system. Weekday MBTA ridership for October increased by 3.2% over October 2010 and averaged 1.348 million passenger trips per weekday. Davis said last month’s ridership was just shy of September’s record high of 1.349 million passenger trips. As back to back months, September and October represented the MBTA’s highest ridership in the modern record-keeping era. Davis said heavy ridership growth was seen on the Red, Orange, and Blue Lines, which exceeded September’s record high. Last month’s average of 555,000 weekday passenger trips on the Red, Orange, and Blue Lines was the highest in MBTA history. With average weekday ridership of 398,500, the T’s 180-route bus system had its busiest month in almost seven years. In this calendar year, ridership has been higher than 2010 levels in nine out of ten months. Davis cited the state’s economic recovery and growing employment levels as factors in the T’s record ridership. He also believes the availability of real-time bus and subway train location information has attracted new riders by making it easier and more convenient to use the MBTA.