Metro bus ridership continues to dip. Are ICE raids partly to blame?

Ridership across Metro’s transit system plunged in June after federal immigration authorities conducted dramatic raids across Los Angeles County, sowing fear among many rail and bus riders.

- COLLEEN SHALBY

A LONE rider leaves the Civic Center Metro station. Metro has struggled with ridership in recent years.

Last month, the transit agency’s passenger numbers on buses continued to dip, although the reasons are not fully clear.

Ridership onrail crept up roughly 6.5% in July after a decrease of more than 3.7 million boardings across the rail and bus system the month before. Bus ridership accounted for the bulk of the June hit, with a ridership drop of more than 3.1 million from May. In July, bus boardings continued to decrease slightly by nearly 2%.

‘Although it’s possible that concerns over safety have persisted as immigration raids continued to play out in the Los Angeles region, a drop in bus ridership from June to July in years past has not been uncommon, according to Metro data.

A review ofthe number of boardings from 2018 shows routine dips in bus ridership during the summer months.