With extended hours and a new bus system, Capital Metro ridership increased between 50–70 percent during this year's South by Southwest conferences and festivals.
"It really was an all-hands-on-deck effort to move a lot of people around especially in the downtown area in what is probably our busiest time," President and CEO Linda Watson said during a briefing at the March 24 board meeting. "This was absolutely a record-breaking year for us in terms of ridership. Our ridership over these days was more than 50 percent above our average weekday ridership and more than 70 percent above our average weekend ridership."
The transit agency for the first time extended MetroRail hours to midnight on Wednesdays and Thursdays during SXSW, until 1 a.m. Fridays and until 2 a.m. Saturdays. The final Saturday of SXSW, March 15, saw the most riders at 8,134, which is an increase from last year of 7,758 riders on the same Saturday.
On MetroRapid, the agency's bus-rapid transit system that launched Jan. 26, the last Friday of SXSW, March 14, marked the most single-day riders for the new transportation system. That day saw 9,843 riders. A typical weekday in February on MetroRapid typically draws more than 5,200 riders, according to Capital Metro data.
