Ridership on King County Metro continues to remain steady at just over 100,000 daily trips across our reduced service network. This figure reflects customers using Metro to make essential trips, while many customers continue to stay home in response to public health guidance to reduce the spread of COVID-19.  Metro analyzed preliminary extrapolations to create an unofficial estimate of weekly ridership, which remains substantially lower compared to a year ago.

Highlights

  • From May 4-8, the average weekday bus ridership was estimated to be about 109,000, compared to 420,000 for the same time in 2019, or a 74% drop.
  • Similarly, an estimated 74% fewer passengers used Metro’s Access paratransit service from May 4-8 compared to a year ago. Water taxi routes also are seeing significantly reduced ridership, with 96% fewer riders during the same weekdays.
  • During the morning and afternoon commutes, estimated ridership has dropped about 76-85% compared to last year. Midday and evening ridership are down about 62-68%, and late-night ridership is down an estimated 51-59%, depending on the day of the week. (More detailed tables are below.)
  • Weekend ridership has strengthened slightly in recent weeks on Saturday to 83,000, while Sunday ridership was about 72,000. These figures continue to represent about 50% of normal weekend ridership.

A new public health directive to wear masks in public and on transit was announced this week and goes into effect May 18. Metro is calling on riders to comply with the directive to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Metro’s reduced network of service has 73% of its typical weekday trips on the street, and we’ve recently added buses on high-demand routes during the midday and late at night to support social distancing efforts.

As Gov. Inslee has extended his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order through May 31, we ask people to please continue to reserve transit for essential trips for work and for access to food, medicine, and similarly essential needs.

Please help support the health of other passengers and our frontline essential staff – the operators and crews, supervisors, and maintenance staff—by:

  • Staying home if you are sick
  • Wearing a face covering when traveling
  • Washing your hands often and using sanitizer
  • Covering your cough or sneeze
  • Staying as far apart as possible from other people

 

COVID-19 ridership line graph showing approximately 100,000 average weekday riders compared to 400,000 in 2019

King County Metro bus ridership

*Unofficial total ridership estimates are preliminary and based on samples and extrapolations

DateBaseline (2019)Current (2020)Change
3/2/2020416,885389,103-7%
3/3/2020430,822396,544-8%
3/4/2020425,431381,634-10%
3/5/2020411,763344,562-16%
3/6/2020399,641301,111-25%
3/9/2020408,494283,259-31%
3/10/2020417,616275,642-34%
3/11/2020424,583269,362-37%
3/12/2020415,904230,570-45%
3/13/2020397,707207,253-48%
3/16/2020404,158181,732-55%
3/17/2020410,204163,519-60%
3/18/2020413,908159,033-62%
3/19/2020403,555149,350-63%
3/20/2020384,736146,983-62%
3/23/2020377,285131,543-65%
3/24/2020394,904117,852-70%
3/25/2020394,545115,874-69%
3/26/2020391,104109,210-72%
3/27/2020376,578109,633-71%
3/30/2020412,936108,418-74%
3/31/2020426,257109,490-74%
4/1/2020429,250117,709-73%
4/2/2020426,229108,079-75%
4/3/2020396,491113,640-71%
4/6/2020386,962109,611-72%
4/7/2020399,581102,590-74%
4/8/2020396,974105,624-73%
4/9/2020388,329106,453-73%
4/10/2020377,581107,688-71%
4/13/2020414,207105,947-74%
4/14/2020423,523104,672-75%
4/15/2020421,208106,603-75%
4/16/2020416,347106,735-74%
4/17/2020389,484107,565-72%
4/20/2020402,532104,275-74%
4/21/2020420,50398,176-77%
4/22/2020424,73393,881-78%
4/23/2020418,512100,304-76%
4/24/2020399,920103,447-74%
4/27/2020411,029103,657-75%
4/28/2020430,829100,959-77%
4/29/2020422,600104,234-75%
4/30/2020420,083103,820-75%
5/1/2020405,511114,059-72%
5/4/2020415,942108,526-74%
5/5/2020431,041109,176-75%
5/6/2020429,353106,030-75%
5/7/2020423,637109,253-74%
5/8/2020403,057111,661-72%

Key affected King County Metro routes – Average weekday ridership

*Unofficial ridership estimates are preliminary and based on samples and extrapolations

Week of May 4-8

RouteBaseline
(2019)
Current
(2020)
Change
711,5235,590-51%
88,8842,123-76%
369,7503,470-64%
4012,9733,005-77%
449,7792,140-78%
1209,1943,980-57%
RapidRide A Line10,2455,475-47%
RapidRide C Line11,5542,743-76%
RapidRide D Line14,3514,314-70%
RapidRide E Line17,8277,542-58%

King County Metro bus ridership by time period

*Unofficial ridership estimates are preliminary and based on samples and extrapolations

Morning (5-9am)

DayMorning
(2019)
Morning
(2020)
Change
May 4113,82618,387-84%
May 5117,22118,149-85%
May 6115,62417,849-85%
May 7115,79518,514-84%
May 8102,82318,636-82%

Midday (9am-3pm)

DayMidday
(2019)
Midday
(2020)
Change
May 4118,70842,701-64%
May 5120,99141,946-65%
May 6126,58140,541-68%
May 7121,06342,142-65%
May 8122,64143,041-65%

Afternoon (3-7pm)

DayAfternoon
(2019)
Afternoon
(2020)
Change
May 4140,95329,905-79%
May 5146,16630,488-79%
May 6140,11029,765-79%
May 7139,74830,118-78%
May 8128,19530,348-76%

Evening (7-10pm)

DayEvening
(2019)
Evening
(2020)
Change
May 430,20011,543-62%
May 533,70512,401-63%
May 632,38711,940-63%
May 733,59212,826-62%
May 833,78612,938-62%

Late Night (10pm-5am)

DayLate Night
(2019)
Late Night
(2020)
Change
May 412,2545,990-51%
May 512,9586,191-52%
May 614,6515,934-59%
May 713,4395,653-58%
May 815,6126,699-57%

King County Metro Water Taxi ridership

DateRidership (2020)
Feb. 241,910
Feb. 251,982
Feb. 261,962
Feb. 272,043
Feb. 281,540
March 21,778
March 31,892
March 41,739
March 51,383
March 6838
March 9958
March 10936
March 11845
March 12686
March 13452
March 16370
March 17274
March 18271
March 19262
March 20208
March 23183
March 24212
March 25208
March 26145
March 27115
March 30147
March 31136
April 1156
April 2144
April 3125
April 680
April 7102
April 871
April 981
April 1085
April 1383
April 1490
April 1578
April 1681
April 1772
April 20108
April 2181
April 2292
April 2383
April 2454
April 2795
April 2888
April 29109
April 3095
May 170
May 4101
May 5109
May 697
May 7110
May 872