Transit Ridership Statistics & Tracking

[WislaHD]

All of the below stations have seen rapid development and population growth over recent years.

2014 --> 2016 --> 2018 // % Change

Lawrence --> 24,590 --> 22,340 --> 22,340 // 9% decrease
Eglinton --> 77,530 --> 75,050 --> 68,520 // 12% decrease
Davisville --> 22,040 --> 24,300 --> 25,990 // 18% increase
St Clair --> 34,760 --> 34,610 --> 36,620 // 5% increase
Summerhill --> 5,770 --> 6,280 --> 5,710 // 1% decrease
Rosedale --> 6,260 --> 6,010 --> 7,770 // 24% increase

I wanted to see how crowding on the Yonge subway is affecting ridership in Midtown, it is something we've been expecting, and anecdotally seeing, but now we have numbers for it. Of course though, this is a crude comparison because to properly measure that we would need specifically morning peak hour ridership, but it is still interesting to look at.

Eglinton Station can probably be partially dismissed as a consequence of the construction. I wonder if Davisville's population increase (especially rentals) alongside with low-car ownership rates (in new rental developments) is driving the ridership growth there above and beyond other stations.

 

[nfitz]

It's impossible for Sheppard west ridership numbers to be included from previous years since the extension opened before 2018. I've set up a spreadsheet that has all data from the past decade together. Unfortunately, UrbanToronto is stupid in that it doesn't let you share excel files, so this PDF will have to do. If anyone wants the full spreadsheet, I'll upload it to google drive or something and share a link if there's interest. Nevertheless, into the basic analysis:

I'm not seeing the PDF file.

Sheppard West station opened in the 1990s (1996 if I remember correctly). It was previously called Downsview before they changed the name to Sheppard West in May 2017. I don't believe there were any ridership changes from the renaming. Though I think that it would have dropped significantly when the 20,000-passenger York University express bus stopped running in December 2017.

 

[Streety McCarface]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CkRtA03sFa0pvYuzVMx5xD1-P0xuqgcr/view?usp=sharing
PDF

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SWTIQd9wJ3IFPgCYGEJRcI1XZfFOTO6K/view?usp=sharing
XLS

Hopefully this works.

 

[Streety McCarface]

Also, another thing I noticed:

The ridership quoted for the GO Stations is even weirder than @reaperexpress mentioned. Daily ridership for lines only considers boardings, and not exits, so actual line counts are half of what metrolinx is quoting.

For instance, Kitchener should be around 28.6K PPD now, but Lakeshore East is really confusing me. Weren't 2014 riderships around 50K PPD, why would they decrease?

 

[nfitz]

I don't think nor believe it increased by a thousand as well. Sheppard West I really doubt, and I agree, maybe someone was messing around the numbers from pre-2017 to post-2017.

If you look at various years, it's quite common for the count for a given station to remain identical for years - and then it suddenly changes. TTC can go years without actually counting a particular station. Then they kludge everything to death to make it add up. It's complete fiction. If you take a close look at the Sheppard line, the only way those numbers make sense, is if a lot of the new trips are both starting and ending at the same station!

 

[44 North]

Also, another thing I noticed:

The ridership quoted for the GO Stations is even weirder than @reaperexpress mentioned. Daily ridership for lines only considers boardings, and not exits, so actual line counts are half of what metrolinx is quoting.
For instance, Kitchener should be around 28.6K PPD now, but Lakeshore East is really confusing me. Weren't 2014 riderships around 50K PPD, why would they decrease?

Or is it that ridership is double what they're posting? I don't know, so many numbers. But you guys are doing a great job discering and presenting the data.

 

[reaperexpress]

Also, another thing I noticed:

The ridership quoted for the GO Stations is even weirder than @reaperexpress mentioned. Daily ridership for lines only considers boardings, and not exits, so actual line counts are half of what metrolinx is quoting.
For instance, Kitchener should be around 28.6K PPD now, but Lakeshore East is really confusing me. Weren't 2014 riderships around 50K PPD, why would they decrease?

Actually that's not weird at all, that's the standard way of measuring ridership.

Lines = boardings per day (or year)
Stations = boardings + alightings per day (or year)

My guess as to the really low line ridership numbers is that this seems to only be train ridership, whereas the 2014 data you're referring to included associated train-bus services. It could be that in the old data, someone who took the bus from Newcastle to Oshawa then the train to Union was counted as "2 trips" on the LSE. Yet another example of key missing information that we would need to make any sense of the numbers they published.

 

[Streety McCarface]

Actually that's not weird at all, that's the standard way of measuring ridership.

Lines = boardings per day (or year)
Stations = boardings + alightings per day (or year)

My guess as to the really low line ridership numbers is that this seems to only be train ridership, whereas the 2014 data you're referring to included associated train-bus services. It could be that in the old data, someone who took the bus from Newcastle to Oshawa then the train to Union was counted as "2 trips" on the LSE. Yet another example of key missing information that we would need to make any sense of the numbers they published.

Yes, that is the standard way, but stations just seem to count boardings, which, in turn, low ball the line user numbers. Instead of counting the boardings at Union Station, they just took the boardings from each unique station along the line and called that the line's ridership. It works for actual commuters (since passengers almost always take the same line twice a day), but it doesn't give the accurate numbers you were mentioning.

Previously, GO would quote their statistics by line with total boardings per day, including those at union station. This would give lines like the Lakeshore west line 60K PPD. This is accurate because it counts the total number of trips on the line, hence, the minimum capacity required for the line throughout the day (you need times for localized capacities). Now, they just seem to be quoting lines as boardings per day at all stations except Union, and stations as boardings only. Take Kitchener for example (My home station). I do counts almost every time I ride the train for fun, and almost every time I take a train (especially the peak train), in one direction, I will count about 200 passengers. If Metrolinx was using the boardings+alightings you were referring to, then station counts would total around 400 passengers per day.

 

[Streety McCarface]

Or is it that ridership is double what they're posting? I don't know, so many numbers. But you guys are doing a great job discering and presenting the data.

I think I have an explanation to Lakeshore East. The graphic is quoting 21.6K unique riders per day (or 43.2K trips per day). The 2014 statistics claimed that the number of riders was around 52K passengers per day. Aside from their rounding system making no sense (it rounds up LSE numbers but not Stouffville numbers, but it's probably for ridership that's not shown), it's likely that they in fact divided total ridership for the line by 244, unlike the ~170 they did for the Kitchener line. Dividing 5.3M by 244 gives the magic 21.6K PPD.

This actually is the opposite of what was previously thought, those lines with weekend riderships are actually at a huge disadvantage because all days of the week are treated as equal. If we are to divide the 5.3M by the 170 weekdays over the same period, we get that the line's ridership is 31K PPwD (It's probably closer to 27-29K PPwD, but then, the riderships all make sense with there being a trip range of 54 and 58K PPD, which is quite impressive for the line).

The same can be said about the Lakeshore West line, but to a lesser extent. The ridership on that line, by these rough estimates, has grown to probably around 75-85K Passengers Per Weekday. A huge improvement for Metrolinx.

 

[steveintoronto]

Daily ridership for lines only considers boardings, and not exits, so actual line counts are half of what metrolinx is quoting.

@reaperexpress addressed this, but I ran into the problem of finding the definition used for "Ridership". I commented prior (gist) "It's often not what we think it is"...since many definitions of the term don't align.

Whoever is producing the graph/chart should stipulate the definition they are using, or link to an established one. There are instances, like the GO service to Niagara Falls, where morning and evening ridership will be asymmetrical due to the ridiculously early leaving time from NF. It is highly probable that many take the bus in the morning, then the train returning. Obviously the bus stats on that route would also be asymmetrical too.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

If you take a close look at the Sheppard line, the only way those numbers make sense, is if a lot of the new trips are both starting and ending at the same station!

Which I doubt is the case, unless there was suddenly a infulx of transit fanners out there!

 

[Streety McCarface]

If you look at various years, it's quite common for the count for a given station to remain identical for years - and then it suddenly changes. TTC can go years without actually counting a particular station. Then they kludge everything to death to make it add up. It's complete fiction. If you take a close look at the Sheppard line, the only way those numbers make sense, is if a lot of the new trips are both starting and ending at the same station!

I don't understand what you're saying, are you suggesting that they are altering numbers because they cannot possibly make counts at every station during the same day?

I don't think that's the case, say you're surveying the Sheppard line over the course of a business week:
Monday: Sheppard-Yonge
Tuesday: Bayview
Wednesday: Bessarion
Thursday: Leslie
Friday: Don Mills
Of course day to day numbers are going to vary, but since you're counting the entrances and exits at each statement, you can still sum up all values to get a ridership for the line. It's extremely biased, yes, but it doesn't prove they're adding passengers. The difference between Sheppard Yonge's ridership and the sum of the other 4 stations doesn't have to be equal to 0, a bunch of people could be traveling from, say, bessarion to Don Mills, or Leslie to Bayview. They give a general number of passengers and that's all that matters. These numbers should always be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[nfitz]

I don't understand what you're saying, are you suggesting that they are altering numbers because they cannot possibly make counts at every station during the same day?

I'm saying they don't count (or at least update) every station during the same year!

It's quite obvious that the 2018 Sheppard West numbers must be from before the extension opened in December 2017!

Lots of other examples looking at your (wonderful!) table. Bloor-Yonge (line 1) was exactly 204,630 in both 2016 and 2018 after being exactly 216,190 in both 2014 and 2015 despite big changes in the Line 2 numbers for the same station.

Sheppard-Yonge (Line 4) has been exactly 45,750 since 2015, despite significant changes in Line 4 ridership.

 

[Streety McCarface]

I'm saying they don't count (or at least update) every station during the same year!

It's quite obvious that the 2018 Sheppard West numbers must be from before the extension opened in December 2017!

Lots of other examples looking at your (wonderful!) table. Bloor-Yonge (line 1) was exactly 204,630 in both 2016 and 2018 after being exactly 216,190 in both 2014 and 2015 despite big changes in the Line 2 numbers for the same station.

Sheppard-Yonge (Line 4) has been exactly 45,750 since 2015, despite significant changes in Line 4 ridership.

Ah, I see. My bad.

 

[WislaHD]

Not quite transit, but I figured it would be appreciated in this thread anyway.

Statistics from Bike Share. They share ridership numbers in their newsletters. Image grabbed from reddit.