Blue Line’s 2nd Birthday Marks Sharp Increase in Ridership

Feted by 50 schoolchildren, the Metro Blue Line turned 2 on Tuesday, a birthday that marked a sharp increase in ridership on the 22-mile line as well as stubbornly high operating costs.

Officials who attended the celebration at the Metro Center Station downtown also used the event to trumpet Metrolink commuter trains and the Metro Red Line subway, two new services set to start in the next few months.

“The Blue Line is the first installment of a rail system that is part of a larger solution to transportation problems in Los Angeles,” said Neil Peterson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. “The second installment (Metrolink commuter trains) will come in three months and the third installment (the Red Line) in eight months.”

Ridership on the $877-million Long Beach-to-Los Angeles light rail line--the first leg of a planned 400-mile regional rail transit network--has jumped sharply, with the Southern California Rapid Transit District estimating that 35,600 people ride the line each weekday.

That is slightly more than the 35,000 daily riders predicted when construction of the system began in 1985.

A year ago, the RTD said that 21,921 people boarded the Blue Line each weekday--about 11,000 daily round trips. That figure was questioned by the LACTC, and the two agencies have since modified the way ridership is estimated.

About 64% of the Blue Line’s riders used to ride buses, while the remaining 36% were lured from their cars, said RTD Controller Tom Rubin. That indicates that the Blue Line keeps about 5,800 cars off the freeways each day.

Peterson, Rubin and other transit officials are counting on Blue Line ridership to grow when the Red Line subway opens early next year and expands to the Westside, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and the Eastside over the coming decade. The two transit systems will connect at the downtown Metro Center.

Even with more riders, the Blue Line trains still cost more to operate than the buses they replaced, the RTD said. Rubin said that it costs, on average, 51.6 cents a mile to carry each Blue Line rider, compared to 38.9 cents a mile per bus rider.

In addition, Rubin said, fares collected on buses covered about 40% of the cost of running the buses. Blue Line fares, meanwhile, covered about 13% of the train’s operating costs because train riders paid the same $1.10 fare to take longer trips on less-crowded vehicles.

“The Blue Line carries 35,000 people a day, which is a lot of people for that kind of rail line--more than most lines in other cities that have been running for many years,” Rubin said. “The people who take it are incredibly enthusiastic about it; some claim it is the best thing that ever happened to them. . . . The problem is that it is much more expensive to carry those people on a train than on a bus.”

But, Rubin added, voters have made it plain--by voting for rail-oriented half-cent sales tax surcharges in 1980 and 1990--that they prefer trains to buses. “The people have spoken,” said the RTD controller. “Sometimes, cost-effectiveness is not the only criteria.”

Part of the reason for the line’s high operating costs is its extraordinary security. More than 100 sheriff’s deputies patrol Blue Line trains, stations and adjoining streets at a cost of at least $11.8 million this year. Meanwhile, private security companies have been hired to protect the six Blue Line park and ride lots at an additional cost of $800,000.

Together, these security services account for about 30% of the entire cost of operating the Blue Line. That is more than three times the share of operating costs spent on security in New York City’s buses and subways.

Peterson said security will continue to be a top priority because the virtual absence of crime on the Blue Line is thought to be an important component to its loyal and growing ridership.

“There are three great lessons of the Blue Line so far,” Peterson said. “One is that it is real, it has happened, rail is back in Los Angeles after a 40-year hiatus. Second is people in Los Angeles are going to ride it. Third is that you can ride it and feel safe, wherever and whenever you go.”

Acceptance of the Blue Line is considered by Peterson and others to be vital to the success of future rail lines, particularly the second and third lines, which are scheduled to start in the next few months.

Metrolink, a long-distance commuter train network, is scheduled to open three lines Oct. 26, eight days before voters will be asked to approve a $1-billion statewide bond measure that is needed to complete the system.

Its first three lines will run to downtown Los Angeles from eastern Ventura County and the west San Fernando Valley; Santa Clarita, the eastern San Fernando Valley and Burbank, and San Bernardino and the San Gabriel Valley.

Future Metrolink extensions will connect Riverside County to Los Angeles and Orange County, and expand service among Los Angeles, Orange and northern San Diego counties.

Meanwhile, the first, 4.4-mile leg of the Metro Red Line subway is scheduled to open in late March, although contractors are being pushed by the LACTC to prepare to open as early as January. It will connect Union Station, the Civic Center, the financial district and MacArthur Park, and about 20 miles of extensions are either under construction or being designed.