Commuters Fueling Ridership on South Coast Rail

Commuter rail ridership in Southeastern Massachusetts has grown exponentially since South Coast Rail began service in March.

According to The New Bedford Light, ridership on the Fall River/New Bedford line has increased by approximately 2,000 trips per day (a 33% year-over-year increase), even as MBTA commuter rail overall declines by about 6%. The analyzed data by The New Bedford Light cover the period from April through September 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, and pertain to the Fall River/New Bedford Line overall, not broken out by the new South Coast stations.

“We want ridership to be as high as possible, given the investment the state made in this infrastructure,” said Chris Dempsey, a transit advocate who served as the state's assistant secretary of transportation under Gov. Deval Patrick, in a statement shared with The New Bedford Light. “[Two thousand] 2,000 per day is a respectable and encouraging number.”

Construction of the South Coast Rail extension introduced six new MBTA stations to the transit authority's network, bringing passenger service back to Southeast Massachusetts for the first time since 1958.

Local observers note a potential uptick in Boston-area visits to the South Coast, but the surge in ridership appears driven mainly by commuting activity rather than purely tourism or leisure trips.

According to The New Bedford Light's reporting, weekday ridership increased by 36%. Alternatively, weekend ridership increased by only 13%.

At a kickoff event on March 24, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey praised the project's potential to ease congestion. She cited a 2017 environmental analysis that anticipated a daily decrease of approximately 66,400 vehicle miles traveled. That's equivalent to 600 fewer round trips between New Bedford and Boston.

Per The New Bedford Light, there is no indication that the trains have taken a significant number of vehicles off the roads between the South Coast and Boston. Freeway traffic on Route 24 and Route 140 is about the same as last year, according to the media outlet's analysis.