http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/tpr/capmet/intro.htm
Excerpt from
Ridership
Transit statistics can be baffling and it is difficult to get a sense of Capital Metro purely from the statistics it reports to the board and the Federal Transit Administration. Capital Metro reports a total of 30.6 million passenger boardings during fiscal 1997, including 19 million on fixed-route buses; 7.4 million on the UT shuttle; 1 million on the free downtown "Dillo" service; 496,000 rides on suburban park-and-ride buses; 483,000 STS rides; 527,000 van-pool rides; 268,000 boardings by students who use Capital Metro buses to travel to Austin Independent School District magnet schools; 203,000 boardings on charter buses for special events; and 1.2 million other types of boardings.7
But what do these numbers really mean and how do they reconcile to the often-heard complaint of "empty buses?" First, TPR found that Capital Metro's ridership statistics are based on haphazardly collected data and may be substantially inflated. Furthermore, a number like 30.6 million passenger "boardings" is confusing and misleading to the lay person. To cite just one example, boardings include a large volume of bus transfers-persons traveling on more than one bus to reach their final destination.
TPR asked the question: On an average work day, how many people actually use Capital Metro buses? Surprisingly, in view of the criticism it has received for perceived underuse, Capital Metro does not keep these kind of statistics. But a recent $457,000 ridership study paid for by Capital Metro did provide an estimate: about 42,000 people ride the bus on any given weekday, including the UT shuttle service; this includes a core group of about 27,000 people who ride Capital Metro buses daily.8