King County Metro and health officials continue to call on customers to reserve transit only for first-responders, medical personnel, other essential workers, and people who rely on Metro for access to food, medicine, and similarly essential needs.
Preliminary data show ridership across our system remains substantially lower compared to this time a year ago. Metro analyzed preliminary extrapolations to create an unofficial estimate of ridership. From April 6-10, 2020, the average weekday bus ridership was about 106,000 compared to 390,000 in 2019, or a 73% drop.
Similarly, an estimated 68% fewer passengers used Metro’s Access paratransit service April 6-10. Water taxi routes also are seeing significantly reduced ridership, with 97% fewer riders.
Hovering just over 100,000 daily weekday rides for several consecutive weeks indicates the number of Metro customers who are most reliant on public transportation for essential travel – gaining access to food, medicine, and jobs – and can utilize the current reduced bus system schedule. In the absence of widespread teleworking and business closures, that figure would be significantly higher than 100,000.
Please help support the health of our frontline essential staff – the operators and crews, supervisors, and maintenance staff—by:
- Traveling only when necessary,
- Staying home if you are sick,
- Wearing a face covering when traveling,
- Washing your hands often and using sanitizer,
- Covering your cough or sneeze, and
- Staying as far apart as possible from other people.
Our commitment is to the safety of our employees, customers, and community and we appreciate your support as you follow the guidance to take only essential trips and to “Stay Home, Stay Healthy.”
| King County Metro bus ridership
*Unofficial ridership estimates are preliminary and based on samples and extrapolations |
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| Date | Baseline (2019) | Current (2020) | Change |
| 3/2/2020 | 416,885 | 389,103 | -7% |
| 3/3/2020 | 430,822 | 396,544 | -8% |
| 3/4/2020 | 425,431 | 381,634 | -10% |
| 3/5/2020 | 411,763 | 344,562 | -16% |
| 3/6/2020 | 399,641 | 301,111 | -25% |
| 3/9/2020 | 408,494 | 283,259 | -31% |
| 3/10/2020 | 417,616 | 275,642 | -34% |
| 3/11/2020 | 424,583 | 269,362 | -37% |
| 3/12/2020 | 415,904 | 230,570 | -45% |
| 3/13/2020 | 397,707 | 207,253 | -48% |
| 3/16/2020 | 404,158 | 181,732 | -55% |
| 3/17/2020 | 410,204 | 163,519 | -60% |
| 3/18/2020 | 413,908 | 159,033 | -62% |
| 3/19/2020 | 403,555 | 149,350 | -63% |
| 3/20/2020 | 384,736 | 146,983 | -62% |
| 3/23/2020 | 377,285 | 131,543 | -65% |
| 3/24/2020 | 394,904 | 117,852 | -70% |
| 3/25/2020 | 394,545 | 115,874 | -69% |
| 3/26/2020 | 391,104 | 109,210 | -72% |
| 3/27/2020 | 376,578 | 109,633 | -71% |
| 3/30/2020 | 412,936 | 108,418 | -74% |
| 3/31/2020 | 426,257 | 109,490 | -74% |
| 4/1/2020 | 429,250 | 117,709 | -73% |
| 4/2/2020 | 426,229 | 108,079 | -75% |
| 4/3/2020 | 396,491 | 113,640 | -71% |
| 4/6/2020 | 386,962 | 109,611 | -72% |
| 4/7/2020 | 399,581 | 102,590 | -74% |
| 4/8/2020 | 396,974 | 105,624 | -73% |
| 4/9/2020 | 388,329 | 106,453 | -73% |
| 4/10/2020 | 377,581 | 107,688 | -71% |
| Key affected King County Metro routes – Average weekday ridership *Unofficial ridership estimates are preliminary and based on samples and extrapolations |
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| Week | Route | Baseline (2019) | Current (2020) | Change |
| April 6-10 | 7 | 10,857 | 5,400 | -50% |
| April 6-10 | 36 | 9,072 | 3,208 | -65% |
| April 6-10 | 40 | 12,483 | 2,970 | -76% |
| April 6-10 | 44 | 8,732 | 2,232 | -74% |
| April 6-10 | 70 | 8,784 | 2,012 | -77% |
| April 6-10 | 120 | 8,443 | 3,509 | -58% |
| April 6-10 | RapidRide A Line | 9,354 | 5,079 | -46% |
| April 6-10 | RapidRide C Line | 11,219 | 2,684 | -76% |
| April 6-10 | RapidRide D Line | 13,218 | 4,520 | -66% |
| April 6-10 | RapidRide E Line | 16,551 | 7,077 | -57% |
| King County Metro Water Taxi ridership (2020) | |
| Feb. 24 | 1,910 |
| Feb. 25 | 1,982 |
| Feb. 26 | 1,962 |
| Feb. 27 | 2,043 |
| Feb. 28 | 1,540 |
| March 2 | 1,778 |
| March 3 | 1,892 |
| March 4 | 1,739 |
| March 5 | 1,383 |
| March 6 | 838 |
| March 9 | 958 |
| March 10 | 936 |
| March 11 | 845 |
| March 12 | 686 |
| March 13 | 452 |
| March 16 | 370 |
| March 17 | 274 |
| March 18 | 271 |
| March 19 | 262 |
| March 20 | 208 |
| March 23 | 183 |
| March 24 | 212 |
| March 25 | 208 |
| March 26 | 145 |
| March 27 | 115 |
| March 30 | 147 |
| March 31 | 136 |
| April 1 | 156 |
| April 2 | 144 |
| April 3 | 125 |
| April 6 | 80 |
| April 7 | 102 |
| April 8 | 71 |
| April 9 | 81 |
| April 10 | 85 |