Capital Metro is seeing record numbers during SXSW Interactive and Film 2013, with projections estimated to surpass 2012 totals heading into the music portion of the festival.
MetroRail ridership from March 8-12 has surpassed 2012 by nearly 7,000 boardings, with an approximate total of 20,000 trips to-date. Rail service has been extremely popular among festival attendees traveling to downtown venues. In fact, on Monday, March 11, Capital Metro operated an additional train beyond the final departure to carry 110 passengers still waiting on the platform.
All this week, MetroRail trains are offering increased midday frequency, and Saturday trains will begin service at 10 a.m.
In anticipation of downtown congestion, Capital Metro detoured many bus routes to Guadalupe and Lavaca streets to facilitate mobility in the central corridor — a change taken from experience during previous events, like F1. The agency has seen a nearly 29 percent reduction in driver reports of schedule delays thus far during SXSW from 2012 to 2013.
Although final ridership figures are not available yet for local bus service, preliminary numbers show the service has been very popular, with many buses at full capacity. In addition, night owl service, which runs from midnight to 3 a.m. from the 6th Street entertainment district, has been strong, with extra buses added to accommodate the demand.
Additional SXSW Stats
• Capital Metro’s SXSW 2013 transit info webpage, which includes detour, rail schedule, and information in Spanish has received over 12,000 unique page views, projected to nearly double by the end of the festival.
• In comparison to 2012, ticket sales at MetroRail stations are up 37 percent.
Going into the SXSW Music weekend, the agency anticipates the most significant usage of MetroRail, local bus and late night service.
