Ridership
In the first year of METRORail, ridership, though increasing from 12,102 in January to 32,941 in October, tapered off slightly in the last two months of the year, and "fell short of the 35,000 goal transit officials had set" in early 2004, according to the Houston Chronicle. The line reached 75 million boardings in December 2011, four years ahead of schedule, but throughout that year, ridership numbers remained flat or showed small decreases. By 2012, average weekday ridership was 36,250.
Notable records in ridership have occurred on the following dates:
- February 1, 2004: 64,005 passengers rode the METRORail to Super Bowl XXXVIII
- February 23, 2004: 54,193 passenger boardings were recorded, the highest weekday at the time
- February 27, 2007: 56,388 passengers were recorded the day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
- March 15, 2012: 70,611 passengers were recorded; many of whom attended Houston Lifestock Show and Rodeo and a performance by The Band Perry after the rodeo at the Reliant Park sports complex.
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