The major news with the release of 2014 NYC Bus ridership statistics is that the M15 cedes it's crown as most used route in the city to the Bx12. The Bx12 benefits from a sizable increase in weekday riders once again and an even bigger increase in weekend usage. On the average weekend the route pulls over 62,000 riders which is a nearly 8% increase over last year. Factors such as increased demand for the new Mall at Bay Plaza could be at play there but the weekday growth has been present at significant levels for the past several years so it's just becoming a more sought after route in general. The M15 on the other end has seen delays increase and it's ridership decrease. The route lost almost 5,000 riders per weekday to pull it under 50,000 weekday riders after losing a significant amount in 2013 as well. Those two factors combined to push the Bx12 to number 1 in the city for 2014 usage as you can see in the links to be posted. The M15 sits at #2 above the B46 which has also decreased in usage (there's a trend here).
The 10 most used routes are as follows... 1. Bx12 2. M15 3. B46 4. B6 5. Bx1/2 6. B44 7. M14 8. B35 9. Bx15 10. Bx19
Other things of note...
- Bx41 and Bx15 ridership both grow significantly as each route absorbs the ridership of the former Bx55. The Bx15 grew enough to land in the top 10 list for the city.
- High usage routes in Brooklyn and Manhattan mainly see decreases in usage while such routes in the Bronx all kept stable or grew.
- Select Bus Service seems not be not working to the degree the MTA suggests. The M15, B44, M60, M34/34A all saw decreased usage while the other SBS routes have increased due to factors other than SBS being in place. Given 2014 is the first full year of the B44 SBS that progress report will have some explaining to do.
http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_bus.htm
http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_bus_weekend.htm
http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_bus_annual.htm