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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (458957)	2/23/2009 11:03:01 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573207

Persistent upward trend in ridership Meantime, as Washington has fiddled, America's urban public transit systems have been besieged with passengers – and have struggled to match service to demand as financial conditions have worsened. The surge in ridership has been nothing short of breathtaking. As a media release from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) recently reported , riders have continued to flock to mass transit despite a significant drop in motor fuel prices and a reduction in motor vehicle travel, reflected by a drop in vehicle miles of travel – phenomena that most economists ascribe to the tanking of the economy. According to the APTA release, » Americans continue to ride public transportation at record levels even though gas prices declined. More than 2.8 billion trips were taken on public transportation in the third quarter of 2008 – an increase of 6.5 percent over the third quarter of 2007. This is the largest quarterly increase in public transportation ridership in 25 years. Meanwhile, vehicle miles of travel (VMT) on the nation’s highways declined in the same period by 4.6 percent according to the Federal Highway Administration. « Furthermore, notes APTA, the third-quarter increase reflects a persistent growth trend in US transit ridership: » Last year 10.3 billion trips were taken on U.S. public transportation – the highest number of trips taken in fifty years. In the first quarter of 2008, public transportation continued to climb and rose by 3.4 percent. In the second quarter of 2008, as gas prices rose to more than $4 for a gallon of gasoline, public transit ridership increased by 5.2 percent. The third quarter transit ridership increase of 6.5 percent continued the trend of more and more Americans turning to public transportation in record numbers. « Light rail leads again in growth rate Per APTA's tally, light rail transit (LRT – described as "modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys") – registered the highest percentage of ridership increase among all transit modes, with an average 8.5 percent increase in the third quarter. Light rail services rendered double-digit percentage ridership increases in a number of transit systems: • Baltimore: MTA – 19.6% • Minneapolis: Hiawatha LRT – 18.3% • Sacramento: Regional Transit LRT – 18.3% • New Jersey Transit – 15.9% • Los Angeles MTA – 15.3% • Dallas DART – 15.2% • Denver RTD – 15.0% • Buffalo MetroRail – 13.4% • Memphis Trolley (streetcar) – 13.3% Even bus services attracted dramatically increased ridership, with bus ridership posting the second-largest ridership increase at 7.2 percent. As APTA notes, "Bus travel in all size communities saw ridership increases; communities with a population of less than 100,000 had an 11.6 percent increase." A number of the largest transit agencies reported particularly large percentage increases in operations, including: • Orange County, California – 23.9% • Phoenix – 15.2% • San Diego – 14.4% • St. Louis – 15.0% • Atlanta – 13.8% • Portland – 11.8% • Seattle – 6.2% • Denver – 9.4% • Baltimore – 11.0% • Chicago – 10.1% Regional rail systems reporting double-digit percentages of ridership growth included: • Albuquerque – 35.8% • South Florida: Tri-Rail (Pompano Beach) – 32.9% • Connecticut: Shore Line East – 32.2% • Portland, Maine-Boston: Amtrak Downeaster – 29.6% • Northern California: Capitol Corridor (Sacramento-Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose) – 26.1% • Northern California: Altamont Commuter Express (Stockton-San Jose) – 22.5% • Seattle: Sounder – 22.4% • Harrisburg-Philadelphia – 21.7% • Dallas-Ft. Worth: Trinity Railway Express – 18.8% • Los Angeles: Metrolink – 17.0% • Northern California: Caltrain (San Francisco-Bay Area-San Carlos) – 16.4% Rail rapid transit (RRT, also called "heavy rail", including subway and elevated train operations) ridership also registered a solid average increase of 5.2 percent. Rapid rail systems with the highest increases in ridership for the third quarter of 2008 included: • Los Angeles: Metro Rail – 14.1% • San Juan, Puerto Rico: Tren Urbano – 13.5% • Lindenwold, NJ-Philadelphia: Port Authority Transit Corporation High-Speed Line – 13.3% • Miami: Metrorail – 12.2% • Atlanta: MARTA rapid rail – 11.3% read more......... lightrailnow.org