[PRCo] Re: Port Authority

[John Swindler]

The Tribune Review did not do their homework.  The last sentence is false.  This ridership decline has been noticed at PennDOT for over a decade, much to the consternation of management. Actually PAT ridership peaked around 1974-75.  Those numbers are in the Mass Transit Statistic Report published annually by PennDOT between 1973 and 2006.
 
SEPTA has also declined, at least according to their heuristically derived numbers (direct quote from SEPTA memo).    
 
 
 
> Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 13:34:49 -0700> From: pcc_sr at yahoo.com> Subject: [PRCo] Port Authority> To: pittsburgh-railways at lists.dementia.org> > I just stumbled across this didn't I - just stumbled across it.> > http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BillSteigerwald/2008/06/02/the_bankruptcy_of_mass_transit?page=full&comments=true> > Here is a quote from above:> > "A while ago I came across some figures for the Port Authority from the> early 1980s. Ridership then was about 100 million a year; it had about> 2,800 employees, almost 1,000 buses and about 90 trolleys. In 2006 it> had about 3,000 employees, about 1,000 buses and 80 light-rail cars.> Its budget had gone up 42 percent faster than inflation since 1982 --> but they were carrying 70 million people instead of 100 million. They> had lost 30 percent of their business yet everything stayed the same --> and no one even notices this."> > > Phil> > > > > > 
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