U-PASS Reports

Night Ride Ridership Report

University of Washington Transportation Office

Night Ride is a service provided by the University of Washington Transportation Office. The Night Ride is a shuttle system that provides rides for faculty, staff and students from various stops on campus, to neighborhoods and streets off-campus, within the service area (see the "Night Ride Zones" map). All U-PASS holders receive free rides on the Night Ride, and individuals who do not own a U-PASS may purchase individual Night Ride tickets for $1.00 each.

Annual Ridership Statistics

Table 1 provides summary ridership information for the Night Ride from the first year of operation (1991-92) through the 2001-2001 school year. In the 2001-2002 school year, total ridership was 37,419, up approximately 5,000 from 2000-2001 academic year. An average of 232 riders used the Night Ride shuttle each evening it was in operation in 2001-2002, which is about 39 riders per hour. Overall, the average cost per rider in 2001-2002 was $8.57 per rider. Figure 1 displays the changes in the total number of riders over the past eleven years.

Table 1: Night Ride Ridership

		91/92	92/93	93/94	94/95	95/96	96/97	97/98	98/99	99/00	00/01	01/02
Total Riders		23,629	37,297	35,578	29,498	33,965	37,009	38,620	38,131	33,498	32,408	37,419
Average Number of Riders per Day		146	235	222	186	218	236	243	238	212	205	232
Average Number of Riders per Hour		25	40	38	31	37	40	41	40	36	35	39
Average Program Cost per Rider		$10.88	$7.15	$7.42	$9.44	$8.29	$7.66	$7.44	$7.41	$8.52	$9.92	$8.57

Figure 1: Annual Total Night Ride Ridership

In addition to counting the number of trips taken on the Night Ride shuttle, it is also important to investigate what areas rides are being taken to. In 2001-2002:

• 46% of all night ride trips are taken on the north (Yellow) van
• 18% of all night ride trips are taken on the east (Blue) van
• 36% of all night ride trips are taken on the west (Green) van

These figures follow the same trend as the trends as previous years. The northbound van has the highest ridership, followed by the westbound van. The eastbound van is a distant third in ridership numbers.

Figure 2: Total Annual Ridership by Zone

In addition, ridership volumes fluctuate throughout the year. The chart below shows the average number of riders per day by month. Not surprisingly, peak ridership occurs in the darker, colder months. The graph shown is based on 2001-2002 data.

Figure 3: Average number of Daily Riders by Month

Some information is also known about the Night Ride user group. According to the 1992 and 1995 Night Ride survey, conducted by the Transportation office, the ridership is composed of the following groups:

Table 2: Night Ride User Groups

The 1992 and 1995 Night Ride surveys also showed that studying was the primary reason for being on campus in the evening (46% and 54%, respectively) followed by working (23% and 21%), class (19% and 12%) and other reasons. Perhaps marketing could be concentrated in typical studying areas such as libraries, computer labs, etc. The surveys also indicated that ridership is just about equally split between male and female riders.