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[quote user="videomaker"] My co-worker told me this week ridership is down "Huge" from last week. He's first train in the morning was last week was full but this week only 20 people. I hope its going to take a while until the riders would get used to the system... Awesome, I dont know what to tell you except,last week was free and a lot of people were just curious to see how it was,some may like it some may not..If I lived in Leander I would ride it every day ! Maybe they like the express bus better? Volunteers will be counting passengers until Fri.,this week may give them a more true account of daily riders... [/quote] I was on the train from Leander to UT or downtown on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  I counted an average of 25 people boarding the train at Leander, which of course is well below its seated capacity of 108 passengers and approximately 92 standing passengers.  However, at Lakeline, which is the first stop after Leander, approximately 40 to 60 passengers boarded the train.  Many of them appeared to be UT students, as evidenced by the fact that they got off the train at MLK, which is the transfer point for the connecting bus to UT as well as the state capitol complex.  This pattern is similar to that for the express buses.  They too leave Leander with a relatively light load, pick-up numerous passengers at Lakeline, and drop most of them off at UT.  The train also picked-up 10 to 15 people at the Howard Station, which is a convenient connection point for people who want to drive part way to work, park at the Howard Station, and take the train into Austin.  I overheard several passengers from Round Rock say that they would be taking the train to and from work because they could save the downtown parking fees, avoid some of the congestion associated with driving, and reduce their monthly gasoline bill. Two things came to my mind as I was on the train.  Many of the riders are students who are riding for free, although their school may reimburse Capital Metro for all or part of the fare.  If this is true, Capital Metro will realize a lower fare box recovery than comparable American transit systems.  Also, the train rolls through some very lightly populated areas.  The potential passenger loads appear to be much lower than is the case in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  It may very well be that rapid bus technology will be a better option for Austin.  Time will tell.
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