Ridership has steadily increased throughout the year, an encouraging trend that underscores the importance of the historic investments that are being made in transit.
Equally encouraging: More people are showing interest in serving as bus and train operators, allowing us to meet the growing demand by adding service where it’s needed most.
Our next round of service improvements will arrive on Saturday, Aug. 19, when trips will be added to the METRO Orange Line, METRO A Line, and routes 2, 9, and 30, among several others. On some routes, service will be available earlier and later, or more often on weekends.
Improvements aimed at making Route 17 more reliable and easier to use will also take effect.
As always, these changes were informed by ridership trends and feedback from riders like you. Thank you for letting us know how we can serve you better.
August’s service changes are another welcome step in our effort to become a stronger, better service provider. But we still have a lot more work to do.
To build on our recent momentum, we will:
- Expand our recruitment and retention efforts so we can attract and keep the operators, technicians, police officers, and other staff we need to provide safe and reliable service.
- Use recent rider feedback to inform the next stage of our Network Now project, which will prioritize service improvements in the coming years.
- Continue advancing the 40+ action items in our Safety & Security Action Plan, including efforts to create a new team of non-police personnel who will help people as they ride.
- Advance work on several planned Bus Rapid Transit lines and extensions of our light rail network.
We are excited about the changes that are in store, and grateful for all the investments that are being made in our regional transit network. And we will continue working hard to provide the world-class service our region deserves.
Thank you in advance for your encouragement, feedback, and ridership as we move forward.
Lesley Kandaras (she/her) was recently selected as Metro Transit’s new general manager. Lesley joined Metro Transit in 2019 and previously served as interim general manager and chief of staff. Learn more at metrocouncil.org.
Stay Connected! The above column originally appeared in our Connect newsletter. Subscribe to Connect here.