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

Sat Aug 2 12:46:55 EDT 2008

Gasoline was $3.49 yesterday at several locations on the Carlisle Pike west
of Harrisburg.  Down from $3.75 last weekend.  But it's still typically
$3.89 south of Pittsburgh. On the other hand, it never went above $3.99 in
my neighborhood, so maybe the stations are playing catch-up.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of John
Swindler
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 7:58 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: How many people ride transit...

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%20CHRON
OLOGY72708.xls> > > > > > > _____________________________________!
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