Route Ride Per Hour Ratio

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority is on course to provide over 2.5 million rides in 2019. That is a big number that can be hard to grasp.  Breaking it down by route helps it add up.

I became a bus driver to experience first hand the power of public transportation and to help me understand the complex system.  As I drive around I have been thinking of a measure to use in comparing routes.  I came to the idea of using a ratio that compares ridership per hour of service.

 Table 1: WSTA ridership per route for September 2019.

Route	D	T	NSD	Rides	% Rides	Hrs	% Hrs	Rides/Hrs
87^	N	L	7	21,546	10.1	633.5	4.4	34.0
92	NE	L	6	11,969	5.6	428.0	3.0	28.0
96	E	L	7	12,798	6.0	497.5	3.5	25.7
93	E	C	7	9,747	4.6	475.0	3.3	20.5
91	N	L	6	8,367	3.9	428.0	3.0	19.5
83*	S	L	7	14,497	6.8	801.5	5.6	18.1
89	N	L	7	8,660	4.1	481.5	3.4	18.0
86	S	L	7	8,358	3.9	483.0	3.4	17.3
84	W	L	6	6,384	3.0	412.0	2.9	15.5
105*	SE	L	7	11,147	5.2	751.5	5.3	14.8
81/82	W	C	6	6,109	2.9	416.0	2.9	14.7
103*	W	L	7	10,762	5.1	733.5	5.1	14.7
94	E	L	7	7,156	3.4	493.5	3.5	14.5
88	N	L	5	3,548	1.7	260.0	1.8	13.6
102	SW	L	5	1,311	0.6	100.0	0.7	13.1
107*	W	L	7	9,121	4.3	713.5	5.0	12.8
106	N	L	7	6,065	2.8	485.5	3.4	12.5
98	NE	L	5	3,245	1.5	260.0	1.8	12.5
80*	W	L	7	8,815	4.1	733.0	5.1	12.0
109	NW	L	6	5,105	2.4	438.0	3.1	11.7
90	N	L	7	5,782	2.7	497.5	3.5	11.6
85*	W	L	6	7,819	3.7	678.0	4.8	11.5
104	S	L	7	5,501	2.6	483.0	3.4	11.4
101	SE	CT	7	5,129	2.4	473.5	3.3	10.8
97	N	C	6	3,958	1.9	422.0	3.0	9.4
95	W	L	5	4,289	2.0	480.0	3.4	8.9
110	E	C	5	956	0.4	120.0	0.8	8.0
108	S	C	7	2,971	1.4	485.5	3.4	6.1
99	W	CT	5	835	0.4	240.0	1.7	3.5
100	All	C	7	1,080	0.5	361.8	2.5	3.0
29				213,030	100	14265.8	100	14.9
D = Cardinal Direction | T = Type (Circular, Cross Town, Linear) | NSD = N Service Days
^ = has 2nd bus | * = 2nd Bus Funded by NCDOT B40

You can see that some of the routes are very popular and others are quiet.

I believe you can use this type of information to advocate for second buses on popular routes like 92 and 96.  For example I think the Place Matters Initiative should push for a second bus on route 96 that runs through their impact communities.  I have driven it and could feel the importance of the bus in those places.

What interesting things do you see in this information? 

This analysis is available on the web. The data was provided by the Winston-Salem Transit Authority in an email from the General Manager on 10/10/19.