Mass transit ridership up, and rising
Good news for mass transit geeks (like me). The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced recently that useage of mass transit is rising, as Americans took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation systems in the first three months of 2008, an increase of roughly 3% over the same period last year. 2007 was a banner year itself, as 10.3 billion trips were taken on public transit–the highest number of trips in over 50 years.
Nationwide, light rail systems (streetcars and trolleys) had the biggest gains, with ridership up 10.3% in the first quarter. Commuter rail ridership grew at 5.7%, while heavy rail (subway or elevated rail) and bus ridership grew at 4.4% and 2% respectively.
Among the various cities having heavy rail transit systems, Boston’s MBTA posted one of the largest gains, with ridership up 8.8% over the first quarter of last year.
The entire APTA ridership report is available here (pdf).
Posted: Thursday, Jun 5, 2008 6:26 pm by adam
File as: Conservation and Sustainability; Simplicity, Lifestyle, and Impact-Awareness
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