Sound Transit hits 20,000 rider mark

Sound Transit's light-rail system has broken the 20,000 mark for weekday ridership, The Seattle Times reported Friday.

In April, the new rail line attracted 20,129 average weekday
boardings, an increase of about 2,000 riders from the month before.

Since
January, ridership numbers have steadily increased by roughly a
thousand riders per month.

The trend is a positive sign for the
agency, which had predicted more than 26,000 average weekday boardings
by the end of the year.

The start of the Mariners baseball season
may have helped boost April’s ridership, and other people may simply be
getting used to the new system, said spokesman Bruce Gray.

The
line opened from Westlake Center to Tukwila last summer, and the
SeaTac/Airport Station opened in December.

Taxpayers spent $2.6
billion on the 16-mile line.