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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> <BR> <BR>The answer is very simple. The formula was changed. Everyone should know by now that large transit systems don't count riders. They use various formulas to 'count' riders. I was on a TRB tour past couple days, and Baltimore also admitted that they use formulas for ridership counts. And there are multiple formulas. Some places will pick the formula they like best for a particular month. If they don't LIKE the numbers produced by a certain formula the following month, then use a different formula. It's an art, not a science. And there is no reason to waste the taxpayers money to provide statistics appealing to some railfans.<BR> <BR>Guess everyone is aware that, after 180 years, there is a new operator for the Camden Line commuter service???<BR> <BR>Also that Dullas Airport phase 1 will soon open. And the initial contracts for phase 2 construction have come in $250 million UNDER the engineer's estimates. This is a 23 mile, $5.6 billion addition to Metrorail. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><br> <BR><div>> From: hrbran@cavtel.net<br>> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 12:18:31 -0500<br>> To: pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] *In Pittsburgh...* *......the Greatest City In The U.S.*<br>> <br>> So what if the ridership is down? That's why public transit, in most places<br>> in the US, has a tax to support it. It must be treated as any urban<br>> necessary utility. Now if you want some really negative figures then take a<br>> look at what police, fire and ems services cost. I'm at a loss as to why<br>> you constantly put forth all these figures. So, the ridership is not the<br>> same as it was years ago. Should we just get rid of public transit? What<br>> are you trying to say???<br>> <br>> <br>> On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider@comcast.net>wrote:<br>> <br>> > Do not know where you find positive Cleveland numbers…..<br>> ><br>> > Since it was not posted to the website, I can only believe the year over<br>> > year steady gains were revenue losses or ridership losses that impressed<br>> > you.<br>> ><br>> > Light rail, aka Shaker Rapid … Peak year was 1948 with 7.437 million. In<br>> > 1996 they hauled 3.847 million. In 2012 it was 2.855 million fares. The<br>> > 1995 and 2013 numbers were those that the RTA reported to APTA.<br>> ><br>> > The heavy rail numbers for 1995 and 2013 sere 5.140 million and 6.240<br>> > million. Herb Brannon once told me that the highest average weekday<br>> > volume before the airport extension was around 50,000 a day … that would be<br>> > about 15 million a year.<br>> ><br>> > Bus numbers for 1995 were 50.2 million and for 2012 38.5 million.<br>> ><br>> > Overall, including demand responsive riders, it has dropped 10.6 million<br>> > a year since 1996, not risen. It has dropped 22% while the population has<br>> > done down about 21% in the same period … cannot tell exactly because we can<br>> > only extrapolate the the population drop in the intercensal periods. But<br>> > it looks like its going down proportionally with the loss of people living<br>> > in Cleveland.<br>> ><br>> > Here is the APTA website:<br>> ><br>> > http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/ridershipreport.aspx<br>> ><br>> > On Nov 24, 2013, at 8:10 AM, PC wrote:<br>> ><br>> > > I was very much impressed with Cleveland transit statistics Mr.Brannon;<br>> > they realized year over year steady gains. One would suspect such to be<br>> > 'a' measure<br>> > > of economic health--people traveling back and forth to work and-or to<br>> > shopping. Yet the situation for the nation is still bad; maybe Cleveland<br>> > is still doing better than the<br>> > > average nationally.<br>> > ><br>> > > The city has received some bad press with the women captives recently<br>> > released and negative police reports. But such is possible most anywhere<br>> > today.<br>> > ><br>> > > I have not been in Pgh in decades. I shall look into these books.<br>> > ><br>> > ><br>> > > Phil<br>> > ><br>> > ><br>> ><br>> ><br>> ><br>> ><br>> ><br>> > _______________________________________________<br>> > Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<br>> > Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<br>> ><br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -- <br>> Herb Brannon<br>> <br>> <br>> *In Pittsburgh.............................A City AndAnd A State of Mind*<br>> Let's Go Pens<br>> Let's Go Steelers<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -------------- next part --------------<br>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>> URL: http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20131124/6219ff3b/attachment.html <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<br>> Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<br>> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<br></div> </div>
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