Light rail ridership up from Westlake Center to Sea-Tac in February

After a late-2009 downturn, the new Link light-rail line posted its best ridership numbers in February, averaging 16,741 weekday trips.

That's almost 800 higher than in January, and more than 2,000 above December, for the line from Westlake Center to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The airport station opened in December, completing the initial $2.6 billion, 16-mile corridor. A three-mile tunnel to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium is due in six years.

Before the Link corridor opened in July, Sound Transit forecast 21,000 daily trips by this point.

Transit managers think it takes about 18 months for riders to adapt to a new line, said Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray. The February boost shows that changes in bus routes to feed the train stations, and the new airport service, are having an effect, he said.

The competing King County Metro bus #194 was dropped last month, forcing some airport travelers to switch to trains.

In the next few weeks, onboard surveys will be conducted to learn why, where and how often people ride.