Although it’s still early in the experiment, the N-Judah Express bus has been called a success by Muni officials.

The shuttle bus, which picks up passengers as a supplement to the N-Judah Metro line, saw its ridership numbers grow quickly in its first week of action. According to Muni transit chief John Haley, the N-Express bus picked up 930 passengers on Monday, 1,060 on Tuesday, 1,180 on Wednesday and over 1,400 on Thursday — although he concedes those last totals were bloated slightly by the N-Judah problems that day.

The agency originally projected 1,000 to 1,500 daily passengers on the line, but Haley said he didn’t expect the ridership numbers to grow so quickly.

Service times have also been encouraging for the N-Express. According to Haley, the bus lines have been covering the length of its route in an average of 35 minutes — about three to four minutes faster than originally projected.

He also said that passenger feedback from regular N-Judah customers has been overwhelmingly positive, with many riders saying they have more room now on the train, which has been notorious for its overcrowding.

“We’ve found the first week of the N-Judah shuttle service was virtually flawless,” said Haley.

wreisman@sfexaminer.com