On Monday, August 1st, the City of Alexandria's DASH bus service announced a new annual record high ridership. For FY 2023 (ending June 2023), DASH had over 4.5 million riders, which passed the prior high of 4.3 million riders in FY 2015. FYI, the busiest DASH bus route serves West End Alexandria (Route 35).
The DASH announcement on August 1st (see link) provides the following information about ridership levels:
DASH is the first regional transit service to return to a pre-Covid ridership level.
In the last year, DASH ridership has continued on "meteoric rise" with the 451,000 passenger boardings recorded in April 2023 representing the highest ridership total for a single month in agency history.
DASH carries more than 15,000 boardings on a typical weekday and 7,000 to 10,000 boardings on Saturdays and Sundays.
The 4.5 million total boardings in fiscal year 2023 eclipsed the previous record of 4.3 million in fiscal year 2015.