Caltrain reports decline in weekday ridership following annual count

SAN CARLOS, Calif. (BCN/KTVU) - Caltrain's annual ridership count shows a slight decrease in weekday ridership, the agency said Friday.

The count, conducted in January and February when there are fewer holidays and special events, showed an average mid-weekday ridership of approximately 63,597.

That's a 2.3 percent decrease, but Caltrain officials nevertheless said ridership remains strong and has grown since 2010, when average weekday ridership was at 34,120.

In 2004 ridership hit an all-time low of 23,947 and the Baby Bullet service began.

The results of the ridership count, given to the Board of Directors at its monthly meeting on Thursday, is used to plan service improvements, address capacity issues and validate revenue-based ridership estimates.

Most riders continue to travel during peak commute hours and there was a 0.5% increase from 34,373 riders in 2018 to 34,552 in 2019.

There was a 5.5% increase in midday riders and a 7.2% decrease in reverse peak riders and a 16.4% decrease in evening riders.

Ridership is up at 11 stations and down at 18.

The 10 most popular train stations are San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose Diridon, Mountain View, Redwood City, Hillsdale, Sunnyvale, Millbrae, San Mateo and 22nd Street.

Results also showed that bike ridership decreased by 7 percent this year, with 5,506 riders bringing bikes on Caltrain on an average mid-weekday.

For the eighth year, Caltrain counted the number of bike riders that were not able to board the train due to overcrowding.

There was a slight decrease in bikes bumped with 1.5 riders bumped per 1,000 bikes boarded versus 1.6 in 2018.

The 2019 Annual Count Key Findings Report will be uploaded here later this year.