More Commuters Using Public Transportation
Thursday, October 04, 2007 4:30 PM
More people are taking public transportation this year than last with commuter rail seeing the highest rate of growth.
That's according to a survey released today by the American Public Transportation Association, a trade organization that advocates public transit.
Most commuters are taking mass transit to get to work (59.2 percent) and to school (10.7 percent) - and 30 percent said this was the first year they had taken public transportation.
Americans took 78 million more trips on public transit in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year. That translates to more than 5 billion trips nationwide - a 2.3 percent increase in the second quarter and a 1.1 percent increase in the first quarter, compared to the same periods a year ago.
"The increased public transit ridership we are seeing this year clearly shows that people want travel choices," said William W. Millar, APTA president, in a statement.
Four cities saw double-digit increases in commuter rail, including our neighbor to the north - Dallas at 17 percent. Others included Harrisburg, Penn., Miami and Oakland.
Light rail, which included modern light rail, street cars, trolleys and heritage trolleys, saw the second-highest percentage of ridership growth with a 4.1 percent increase. Denver led the increase, with St. Louis and New Orleans following.
Here in Houston, METRORail increased 3.4 percent for the first ten months of fiscal year 2007, compared to the year before, same period, with 10.7 million boardings.
Heavy rail - or subways - grew nationally by 2.8 percent in the first six months of this year. The largest increases were in Atlanta, the state of New Jersey, Staten Island, N.Y. and San Francisco.
More commuters rode buses than they did last year nationally with an increase of 0.6 percent. The largest increases occurred in Seattle, Minneapolis and Denver.
Who's riding the rail and bus?
APTA released a second survey on passenger demographics based on 150 on-board vehicle passenger surveys, summarized by transit agencies of more than 496,000 commuters from 2000 to 2005.
Here's a snapshot of who is riding:
- 30 percent said they were first-timers.
- 57.1 percent said they had been riding more than two years.
- Eight out of ten trips are by riders who commute three or more days a week.
- Nearly two-thirds of trips are by travelers who take transit five or more days a week.
- Riders come from all ethnic backgrounds: Caucasian (41%); African American (33%); and Hispanic (14.3%).
- Women outnumber men commuters with a 55-45 percent split.
- More than one-third of all riders have household income of $50,000 or more (34.3%). Almost 10 percent have household incomes of $100,000 or more. Almost half report household incomes ranging from $15,000 to $49,999 (45.6%).
To read the entire report, click here. 
Here at METRO, ridership decreased in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2007 (our fiscal year starts Oct. 1). From October 2006 to July 2007, METRO recorded 88.7 million boardings, down 2 percent from a year ago, same period.
It's important to remember that in fiscal year 2006, METRO posted its highest single-year ridership in its history with 98.5 million passenger boardings on our fixed-route service.
Total fixed-route services include rail. Every time someone steps on a bus or train, it's a passenger boarding.
Many factors play into why METRO's ridership numbers declined, including record rainfalls this year. From January 1 to July 20, Houston had the wettest period on record, according to meteorologist Tim Heller of KTRK-TV. The more it rains here, the less people seem to catch the bus.