Ridership Down for Northern Virginia Public Transit

Transit ridership is down year-over-year in Northern Virginia by 1.7%. This quarter’s losses come from a drop in bus ridership, according to an article in Inside NOVA: "Metrobus service posted a 5.2-percent decline to 4.28 million passengers for the quarter." Arlington ART and Fairfax CUE services posted some of the sharpest drops. Some speculate this decline may have been exacerbated by the government shut down in December, but officials say that event probably had only a small impact.

At the McLean and Greensboro stations, Silver Line train ridership was up slightly during the same period, but not enough to balance out losses from buses.