Downtown Crossing is the busiest T station?

This afternoon I stumbled across the last published system wide MBTA ridership numbers (2009)


Ridership and Service Statistics Twelfth  Edition  2009

Included is a table that shows the number of average weekday boardings at each station in the system and I was a little surprised by the numbers.If you click on the above link and then go to page 18 you can access the full table.

The station in FY 2008 with the most boardings was Downtown Crossing with 22,695, followed by South Station with 22,157 and Harvard third with 20,373.

Now Downtown Crossing is a transfer point but since one doesn't tap their Charlie Card to transfer I have to assume these numbers are actual riders entering the system. Coming in dead last lime a broken down horse is Suffolk Downs with 803.

Some of the other numbers also make me scratch my head but since this table was created after the Charley Card system was introduced systemwide in 1997 I have to assume they are accurate. For example Shawmut recorded more boardings than Savin Hill - 1979 to 1,747 which given that Savin Hill is adjacent to Dorchester Ave. is a mild surprise and it has also has more boardings than Riverside which averaged 1,924.

The Bus ridership is also fascinating to read. The Silver Line between Dudley and Downtown is the busiest route with 14,709 boardings on an average weekday, followed by the #39 with 14,405 and the #1 with 12,325.

On the Commuter Rail I never would have guessed the suburban station with the most boardings each weekday would be Mansfield with 3,763. Way behind in the #2 position is Rte. 128 with 2,572 followed by Salem with 2,504.

It really is a fascinating document to look at and it tells you everything you could ever want to know about the MBTA.

I hope the T publishes a more recent version soon.