Overall Ridership Grows to over 1 Million Weekday Boardings
September marked the official start of fall, but Metro numbers continue to rise. Metro ridership was 27,281,003, an increase of 3.9% over September 2025. The D line had the biggest year-over-year (YOY) increase, showing 114% growth on weekdays and nearly 93% overall.
Systemwide, ridership averaged 1,022,776 on weekdays, a 4.4% increase over September 2025. Saturdays averaged 720,083 boardings, and Sundays averaged 584,475. Nearly 20% of ridership came from customers enrolled in fare programs that offer free or discounted rides, including GoPass (for students in grades K-community college at participating schools), LIFE (for persons with qualifying incomes), U-Pass (for students at participating colleges and universities), and E-Pass (for employers who offer transit to their employees). The LIFE Program grew 35% YOY.
September was very busy with concerts, sports, cultural activities, and conventions. BTS played a multi-night run at SoFi Stadium, J. Cole performed at both Intuit Dome and Crypto.com Arena, and the Hollywood Bowl hosted a John Williams tribute. College football returned with home games for USC at Memorial Coliseum and UCLA at the Rose Bowl, plus home games at SoFi Stadium for both the Rams and Chargers. The Dodgers, Galaxy, LAFC, Sparks, and Kings all played at home. The highly anticipated Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Expo Park opened in September, and the Los Angeles Korean Festival also took place at Seoul International Park. Long Beach Comic Con at the Long Beach Convention Center and the Los Angeles Low Rider Magazine Super Show at the LA Convention Center both attracted big crowds.
Rail Ridership Continues Growth Trajectory
Rail ridership remains strong, rising 12.4% over September 2025 to 6,698,337. Weekdays had the highest growth at 13.9%, with average boardings of 244,680. Saturday boardings averaged 194,793, a 10.5% increase YOY.
Other year-over-year rail ridership highlights include:
- A line ridership increased 9.5% to 2,083,094, and grew 10.4% on weekdays to 244,680 average ridership.
- B line ridership increased by 4.5% in September to 1,412,266. The biggest growth came on Sundays, up 24.4% to an average ridership of 49,300.
- D line growth increased every day of the week. In addition to the phenomenal growth on weekdays, Saturdays had average boardings of 14,221 for a 24.5% increase and Sundays had average boardings of 11,457 for a 20% increase.
- E line ridership was 1,658,854, a 10% increase, with Saturdays showing the strongest growth at 12.5% to 50,826 average ridership.
- K line ridership grew 2.2% to 242,298, with Saturdays showing the biggest growth at 7.6% to 7,064 average ridership.
Bus Ridership Continues to Grow
Bus ridership rose 1.4% year over year, with a 2.2% increase on Saturdays to 525,290 average ridership. The J line, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), was up 5.6%. Total bus ridership in September was 20,582,666.
Public Safety on Metro
Metro continues to strengthen safety across its system through a visible, engaged presence of uniformed personnel, enhanced access control through environmental design, and partnerships with the County, cities, and regional agencies to address societal issues affecting the transit system.
In August, 99.998% of trips were completed without incident. Violent and property crime rates combined reached 6.25 incidents per million boardings, the lowest level for August since 2019. Compared with July, violent crime declined 11.7%, and property crime fell 27%.
Metro Transit Security Officers continued their targeted Code of Conduct enforcement (including fare enforcement) operation on the G line, which launched on June 8. On July 27, Metro also launched a joint train-riding operation with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) on the A Line North.
From July 27 through August 31, Metro Transit Security train-riding teams on the A Line North averaged seven removals per sweep, up from one per sweep during the same period last year. At targeted stations, citations increased 4,200% compared with the same period last year, primarily for no proof of fare.
Metro’s outreach teams continued connecting people experiencing homelessness with services and housing. In August, teams engaged 443 individuals, resulting in 222 interim and 46 permanent housing placements in coordination with regional service providers. In fiscal year 2027, 1,288 people have been enrolled in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and 558 have been connected to interim or permanent housing. Metro’s goal is to facilitate 2,400 housing placements for the new fiscal year.
About Metro
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is building the most ambitious transportation infrastructure program in the United States and is working to greatly improve mobility. Metro is the lead planner, funder, builder, and operating agency for public transportation in L.A. County and carries nearly 1 million boardings daily on a fleet of 2,200 low-emission buses and six rail lines. The latest customer experience survey, fielded in July 2026, showed that customer satisfaction with Metro has risen to 87%.
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