[PRCo] Re: How many people ride transit...

[Fred Schneider]

Have you been watching the employment / unemployment numbers for  
Pennsylvania?   Not particularly good.  Does not much matter what the  
price of gas is if people have little reason to go dawntawn.

On Aug 1, 2008, at 7:57 PM, John Swindler wrote:

> I would be curious to see what $4 gas will do to ridership on  
> several light rail lines, but we will have to wait awhile for the  
> numbers.
>
> After a billion dollars spent, Pittsburgh seems stuck around  
> mid-20k in weekday light rail ridership.
>
> John
>
>
>> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 15:17:16 -0700> From: pcc_sr at yahoo.com>  
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: How many people ride transit...> To:  
>> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > ----- Original Message ----> >  
>> > From: John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com>> > To: pittsburgh- 
>> railways at dementia.org> > Sent: Friday, August 1, 2008 12:54:43 PM>  
>> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: How many people ride transit...> > > > > >  
>> Hi Fred> > > > Within Pennsylvania, as SEPTA goes, so goes the  
>> state. At the national level, > > as New York City goes, so goes  
>> the country.> > > > Remember when APTA was advertising the  
>> increase in public transit ridership in > > the US several years  
>> ago, and how the percentage increase exceeded the > > percentage  
>> increase for autos. That was due to New York City, and primarily  
>> the > > subway. It was a time when there was a large influx of  
>> immigrants - > > particularly eastern Europe.> > > > For  
>> Pittsburgh and the T, comparing with New York City is meaningless.  
>> Two > > different leagues. The bett!
>  er comparison is with their peers, and that is where > > there are  
> some unexpected numbers. Should be in the archives.> > Not unlike  
> comparing transit and cherry pie isn't it. My initial reaction to  
> comparison was the same as yours, Mr.Swindler, but in reality it  
> seems that Mr.Schneider is not making a comparison per se but finds  
> the ridership figures staggering in NY - Pgh is mentioned to give a  
> sense of these staggering numbers.> > This gives a whole new  
> dimension to spam-cans or sardine-cans doesn't it.> > > Phil> > > >  
> > > > Also, might want to check your PAT bus number of 60,000 -  
> sounds like you got a > > garage daily ridership number rather then  
> the system number.> > > > John> > > To: pittsburgh- 
> railways at dementia.org> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: > >  
> [PRCo] How many people ride transit...> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008  
> 14:27:20 -0400> > > > While we look about Pittsburgh and how many  
> people ride the T ... > something > > over 25,000 a day in fiscal  
> year 2006 accor!
>  ding to the > figures PAT submitted > > to the FTA ... now think  
> for a
>  few seconds > about what big really is.> New York > > City Transit  
> Authority counts over 6 million fares on a > normal weekday in the  
> > > subways ... that is 1 thousand 5 hundred times > more than  
> Pittsburgh.> > They > > also moved 3 million more people a day on  
> buses compared to > PAT's 60,000.> > > > It simply boggles the  
> mind.> > When a friend of mine pointed out that mass > > transit  
> was a "big city > thing," I studied it to prove or disprove his  
> point. > > The most > recent nationwide data I could get by company  
> was the 1907 U. S. > > > census of electric railways. After I put  
> every company's passenger > counts in a > > spreadsheet arrayed by  
> city size, and in!> > 1907 I assumed > that a city of 100,000 or  
> more was a BIG CITY, I found that > > 80 > percent of the nickels  
> fell into conductor's mitts in big cities. My > > > friend,  
> curmudgeon first class from New Jersey, was absolutely > correct.  
> And > > looking at the numbers for New York, Washington, >  
> Chicago ... isn'!
>  t has not > > changed. If anything, it might be 90 > percent  
> today.> > By the way, if any of > > you want a list of all the  
> current light rail > lines and subway lines in the > > United  
> States, I am attaching it to > this message. The server should pull  
> it > > off and make a separate > link to it. It is a Excel file so  
> you will need Excel > > to open it. > However, the April 27th  
> version of the same list is on the East > > Penn > Traction Club  
> web site and this one will eventually get there.> > If any > > one  
> wants updated passenger figures for all the light rail > lines,  
> badger me > > and I might just put that on this web site too. I'm >  
> testing the waters.> > > > Fred Schneider> > > > > > -- Attached  
> file removed !> > by Ecartis and put at URL below --> -- Type:  
> application/octet-stream>> > -- Size: 239k (244736 bytes)> -- URL :  
> > > http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/LRT-HEAVY% 
> 20RAIL%20CHRONOLOGY72708.xls> > > > > > >  
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