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Earlier this week, WMATA released its 2011 ridership statistics. While most stations saw slight decreases as ridership fell slightly across the system, a number stood out in their increases. The notable trend is that they're mostly urban in nature and seeing high levels of infill and transit-oriented development, particularly New York Avenue (soon to be NoMa), with an increase of over 18%. Although not in the top ten, other stations seeing ridership growth include Shaw, Columbia Heights, Petworth, and Woodley Park.
Quote:
The New York Avenue Metro station is attracting riders faster than any of the other 85 rail stations in the Metro system, according to the transit agency.
The Red Line station, anchoring the northeast corner of the NoMa neighborhood that straddles North Capitol Street, showed an 18.6 percent increase in the number of riders from July to January compared with the same period a year earlier. An average of 7,461 riders boarded at New York Avenue on weekdays as of June, according to a separate Metro ridership report.
The 10 stations with fastest-growing ridership
New York Avenue 18.6%
Clarendon 14.4%
Medical Center 11.6%
East Falls Church 11.2%
Georgia Avenue 7.7%
Fort Totten 7.4%
Morgan Blvd. 6.9%
Mt. Vernon Sq-UDC 6.7%
Waterfront 5.7%
West Hyattsville 5.3%
Source: Metro
Fast-growing Clarendon in Arlington County came in second with 14.4 percent growth, according to Metro. East Falls Church, West Hyattsville and the Waterfront are also growing neighborhoods, attracting a surge of new residents and landing in the top 10 of fastest-growing stations. The Medical Center station in Bethesda saw a boom of its own, spurred by the massive shift of military jobs under the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure plan.
The list of fast-growing stations serve as a proxy for where development is growing around the region.
Metro itself, which has an average of more than 700,000 boardings every weekday, is clearly part of the draw. The agency's stations have spurred development around the region for years, attracting businesses, builders and residents who want easy connections.
New York Ave makes sense considering that, until recently, there pretty much wasn't anything there. Even now, it is still deserted most of the day. Good news, though!
New York Ave makes sense considering that, until recently, there pretty much wasn't anything there. Even now, it is still deserted most of the day. Good news, though!
Well New York Avenue has been growing consistently since its opening (can't believe it's been almost eight years), but of all the "new" DC development areas, it's been the most gradual and constant, so it makes sense. I wonder what it'll be when NoMa is essentially built out. I want to say 8,500-9,500, but that's more than even U Street.
I think the numbers reflect accurately the current migration patterns in the DC region.
NoMa is added residential units substantially. Over 2,000 units are now under construction there today. Archstone, Stonebrige Carras, Camden Residential, and Mill Creek are big contributors to that. In addition to the residential, NoMa is adding quite a bit of commercial space.
The Orange Line corridor in VA is also showing great strength.
A casual observance in the Petworth/Georgia Avenue tells me there are many more users than six months ago. The Safeway redevelopment into a 60,000 square foot store and 220 residentials, as well as other residential and retail developments to the south of New Hampshire Ave, should add a lot more users to the station over the next three years.
Columbia Heights metro has made impressive gains over the last few years.
What the metrorail system needs are non-peak riders. Adding residential density to the core stations is what will allow the system to be able to maintain itself economically in the long term.
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