December 2012 performance

Date:   January 17, 2013
To:   General Manager 
Board of Directors     
From:   Michael Dohn       
  Timothy Kea
Subject:   December 2012 Monthly Performance Report


1. Weekly system boarding rides (fixed route and paratransit) were down 3.6% in December. 
Weekly rides declined on LIFT and MAX, but were up on buses and WES.    It appears that the
bulk of the ridership loss this December compared to last is due to the elimination of the fareless
zone on MAX.
2. Weekday fixed route boardings were 286,410 in December, 5.0% below the prior year’s level. 
Rides were up on bus and WES commuter rail (+1.1%, +4.1% respectively), but were down
14.1% on MAX.   Weekend ridership was up 12.4% on buses and down 6.5% on MAX from the
previous year. Overall weekly system fixed route rides were 3.6% below the prior year’s level.   
3. The four MAX lines averaged a total of 104,600 weekday, 76,500 Saturday, and 55,200 Sunday
boardings in December.   Weekday ridership was down on each of the four MAX lines,
averaging 55,000 on the Blue line, 19,400 on the Red line, 12,500 on the Yellow line, and 17,700
on the Green line.    Total MAX ridership fell 3.5% during the peaks and 18.0% in off-peak
periods, resulting in a 14.1% drop in weekday MAX ridership.   Total weekend ridership was
also down (-10.2% Saturday, -0.7% Sunday), leading to a 12.7% decline in weekly MAX rides in
December.   Most of the MAX ridership decline was in the former Rail Free Zone area. 
4. Weekday bus ridership was up 1.1% in December, with increases in peak (+1.3%) and off-peak
(+1.0%) time periods.  In December weekly bus ridership increased 2.9%.    Fiscal year to date,
bus ridership growth is trending about .5% higher than last fiscal year.  
5. WES averaged 1,510 daily rides in December, 4.1% above the prior year.    WES operated
reliably in December, with 100% of scheduled trips operated, no relevant mechanical failures
or accidents, and 99.5% of trips on time.  A WES train is considered on-time if it arrives at the
destination platform (Beaverton TC or Wilsonville) within 4 minutes of the published arrival
time.     
6. Weekly LIFT rides were down 4.6% in December, with weekday rides down 4.2% and
weekend rides down 7.3%.  In September, the LIFT service boundaries evenings and weekends