[PRCo] Re: METRORAIL Ridership

[John Swindler]

Like many transit systems, PAT now uses GFI fareboxes with a nine key count pad.  Generally, what the drivers record is what is reported, with two exceptions.  But they are minor.

 

I'd trust any reported Pittsburgh ridership number a lot more than the Philadelphia number.   

 

John

 


 
> Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:24:17 -0400
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: METRORAIL Ridership
> From: hrbran at cavtel.net
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> 
> When PATransit began giving senior citizens free rides, management wanted
> every senior citizen counted during the free ride period. The Commonwealth
> of Pa, of course, paid for the rides from lottery money. Operators were
> instructed to make sure each and every senior citizen was accounted for
> since money would be coming from the Commonwealth to cover the "free" ride.
> So, to make sure PATransit got its share of that lottery money all operators
> just rang up more seniors than actually were riding. Our Amalgamated Transit
> Union representatives even instructed us to "pad" the count. This senior
> citizen count was done every Wednesday, so only seniors were counted on the
> registers. My system was for every ten seniors, pull the register rope four
> more times. I doubt if an accurate ridership count could be had anywhere in
> the US then or now. I'm sure the numbers, today, are also padded as they
> were thirty-five years ago.
> On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 7:57 AM, John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com>wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I knew what I meant to say, but I guess I need to learn to complete the
> > sentence.
> >
> >
> >
> > Let's try again.
> >
> >
> >
> > I would not bet my life that any passenger statistics offered by New York,
> > Boston nor Philadelphia. They are statistical samples, and using the same
> > sample, some of these agencies, if not all, come up with multiple system
> > ridership numbers for the day. Sure, you might see the bus driver
> > registering each fare on a GFI farebox, but that might be used only to
> > validate the ridership number generated by a statistical sample. And we
> > don't know what "adjustments" are made for driver/farebox errors.
> >
> >
> >
> > When you get down to smaller systems, such as a Lancaster, what is reported
> > is what the drivers report. I'm still learning what can - and what can not
> > be done within the GFI software. One of my jobs is to validate the process
> > used by certain transit systems to report ridership numbers.
> >
> >
> >
> > So the Frank and Ernest cartoon quote about accounting also applies to
> > ridership totals in larger systems.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> On America's North Coast <TM>
> 
> A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he
> has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
> *Theodore Roosevelt*
> 
> 
> 

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