Ridership numbers on the city’s public transit system are up for the first two months of 2009.

According to figures released Friday, average daily ridership on the city’s fixed-route T buses increased by 11 percent compared with January 2008 numbers. Average daily ridership increased by 12.3 percent in February.

In terms of real numbers, average daily ridership in January increased from 1,149 riders to 1,276. In February, daily ridership increased from 1,166 to 1,310.

Overall, the T has provided 64,617 rides in the two months, up from 59,026 during the same two months of 2007.

The increase comes as city commissioners have changed policies that now allow Kansas University students to ride the T for free, if they show their KU IDs.

The increase also comes on the heels of the first overall ridership decline in the T’s history. Despite increasing gasoline prices, T ridership in 2008 fell slightly — by less than one percent — compared with the 2007 totals.
The T system provided 387,938 one-way rides in 2008.