Central Puget Sound State Route 520 - Transit ridership
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Measures of public transit ridership on SR 520 in the central Puget Sound region
Transit ridership
WSDOT works with transit agencies in major urban areas throughout the state to collect data on the number of transit vehicles and passengers that pass specific points on select urban highway corridors, including SR 520 in the central Puget Sound region. WSDOT combines this data with its highway vehicle and person throughput data to produce the measures below. For more information on how WSDOT calculates vehicle and person throughput, see WSDOT's Handbook for Corridor Capacity Evaluation (PDF 5.9MB).
The chart below shows the average percentage of buses compared to all vehicles passing select points on SR 520 in the central Puget Sound region, and the average percentage of bus riders compared to all highway users passing those points. Use the drop-down menus in the chart to see how these percentages vary by location, time of day, direction of travel and year.
Source: WSDOT Public Transportation Division.
Notes: Charts showing 0.0% may indicate smaller values (for example, 0.04%). GP and HOV commutes include only the freeway section, and transit includes the freeway length and surface roads. In addition, the transit commute time is influenced by the number of stops.
Performance highlights
In 2023, there were slight increases and decreases in transit ridership compared to the 2022 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19, but was still below the pre-pandemic level. In 2023, the westbound morning commute on SR 520, buses (0.7% of all vehicles) moved 1.5% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.4% of all vehicles) moved 1.2% of the eastbound travelers.
In 2022, there were slight increases and decreases in transit ridership compared to the 2021 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. However, transit ridership was still below the pre-pandemic level. In 2022, the westbound morning commute on SR 520, buses (0.9% of all vehicles) moved 1.0% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.05% of all vehicles) moved 0.2% of the eastbound travelers.
In 2021, there were slight increases and decreases in transit ridership compared to the previous year, due to the recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. However, transit ridership is still below pre-pandemic level. In 2021, the westbound morning commute on SR 520, buses (6.0% of all vehicles) moved 0.7% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.05% of all vehicles) moved 0.1% of the eastbound travelers.
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there reduced demand for transit compared to the previous year. In 2020, during the westbound morning commute on SR 520, buses (3.2% of all vehicles) moved 1.5% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (1.3% of all vehicles) moved 0.2% of the eastbound travelers.
In 2019 during the westbound morning commute on SR 520, buses (2.1% of all vehicles) moved 41.8% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.8% of all vehicles) moved 22.8% of the eastbound travelers.