[PRCo] In Pittsburgh... ......the Greatest City In The U.S.

Sun Nov 24 15:45:05 EST 2013

Ridership gains 3-years in a row in Cleveland, 2010, 2011, 2012:::

http://www.riderta.com/annual/2012

>From the Red Line and the HealthLine to buses and Trolleys, more seats were filled as ridership was up. Last year, RTA provided 48.2 million passenger trips, an increase of more than 2 million over 2011. Overall, ridership grew by 4.8 percent in 2012. This is on top of a 3.6 percent increase last year, and a 4.0 rise the year before that. The Red Line had 500,000 more riders, representing a 9.1 percent gain. The Blue and Green Lines also grew by 4.1 percent, and the bus routes collectively increased by 3.5 percent. Since its introduction in 2008, the HealthLine has had healthy growth, and in 2012, it posted its fourth consecutive annual increase, up 3.0 percent. Finally, the Paratransit Service was even more vital to those needing assistance, increasing by 11.9 percent.

>From APTA:

http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2012/Pages/120604_Ridership.aspx

2012 First Quarter Ridership Breakdown

Nationally, light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) ridership increased 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012.  Twenty-five of twenty-seven light rail systems reported ridership increases.  The ten light rail systems with the highest rates of growth were located in the following cities:  Memphis, TN (45.7%); Salt Lake City, UT (34.1%); Seattle, WA – King County DOT (19.4%); Boston, MA (12.6%); Cleveland, OH (10.7%); Houston, TX (10.3%); Seattle, WA – Sound Transit (10.3%); Los Angeles, CA (9.9%); Sacramento, CA (8.5%); and St. Louis, MO (8.2%).

Fourteen out of fifteen heavy rail heavy rail (subways and elevated trains) systems reported ridership increases.  Overall, heavy rail ridership increased by 5.5 percent nationwide.  The ten heavy rail systems with the highest first quarter increases in ridership were in the following cities: Cleveland, OH (12.2%); San Francisco, CA (9.7%); Chicago, IL (8.9%); Baltimore, MD (7.8%); Boston, MA (6.4%); Jersey City, NJ (6.1%); New York, NY – MTA New York City Transit (5.6%); Lindenwold, NJ (4.7%); New York, NY – MTA Staten Island Railway (4.5%); and Miami, FL (4.2%).

Large bus systems reported an increase of 4.6 percent nationally.  Bus systems in the following cities showed the top ten increases: Saint Louis, MO (15.6%); Dallas, TX (11.9%); Arlington Heights, IL (11.1%); Boston, MA (10.6%); Oakland, CA (10.5%); Ft. Lauderdale, FL (8.7%); Newark, NJ (8.0%); San Antonio, TX (8.0%); Washington, DC (7.9%). and Cleveland, OH (7.8%).

Here is an interesting historical record of transit in Cleveland from the first website quoted above:

http://www.riderta.com/history

Cleveland's HealthLine bus route could be model for Pittsburgh:

http://www.post-gazette.com/transportation/2013/06/20/Cleveland-s-HealthLine-bus-route-could-be-model-for-Pittsburgh/stories/201306200245

Pc

--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 11/24/13, PC <pcc_sr at yahoo.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [PRCo] *In Pittsburgh...* *......the Greatest City In The U.S.*
 To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
 Date: Sunday, November 24, 2013, 11:59 AM

 Mr.Brannon supplied the figures and I
 believe the website for Cleveland transit is where it was
 posted.  As this was within the last
 year or two I was surprized because of the recession. 
 I made a point of checking (maybe a news article in
 Cleveland) and the
 numbers were positive increase in ridership.  I was
 amazed at the results.  It is in the archives of this
 list but I am not looking for it.

 Pc

 --------------------------------------------
 On Sun, 11/24/13, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
 wrote:

  Subject: Re: [PRCo] *In Pittsburgh...* *......the Greatest
 City In The U.S.*
  To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
  Date: Sunday, November 24, 2013, 8:32 AM

  Do not know where you find positive
  Cleveland numbers…..  

  Since it was not posted to the website, I can only believe
  the year over year steady gains were revenue losses or
  ridership losses that impressed you.   

  Light rail, aka Shaker Rapid … Peak year was 1948 with
  7.437 million.   In 1996 they hauled 3.847
  million. In 2012 it was 2.855 million fares.   
  The 1995 and 2013 numbers were those that the RTA reported
  to APTA.

  The heavy rail numbers for 1995 and 2013 sere 5.140
 million
  and 6.240 million.   Herb Brannon once told
  me that the highest average weekday volume before the
  airport extension was around 50,000 a day … that would
 be
  about 15 million a year.

  Bus numbers for 1995 were 50.2 million and for 2012 38.5
  million.   

  Overall, including demand responsive riders, it has
  dropped  10.6 million a year since 1996, not
  risen.   It has dropped 22% while the
  population has done down about 21% in the same period …
  cannot tell exactly because we can only extrapolate the
 the
  population drop in the intercensal
  periods.   But it looks like its going down
  proportionally with the loss of people living in
  Cleveland.   

  Here is the APTA website:

  http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/ridershipreport.aspx

  On Nov 24, 2013, at 8:10 AM, PC wrote:

  > I was very much impressed with Cleveland transit
  statistics Mr.Brannon; they realized year over year steady
  gains.  One would suspect such to be 'a' measure
  > of economic health--people traveling back and forth
 to
  work and-or to shopping.  Yet the situation for the
  nation is still bad; maybe Cleveland is still doing better
  than the
  > average nationally.
  > 
  > The city has received some bad press with the women
  captives recently released and negative police
  reports.  But such is possible most anywhere today.
  > 
  > I have not been in Pgh in decades.  I shall look
  into these books.
  > 
  > 
  > Phil