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marmar

(77,081 posts) Mon Dec 22, 2014, 02:55 PM Dec 2014

Despite Cheaper Gas, Public Transit Ridership Is Up, Trade Group Reports

(NYT) David Needham thought he would need to buy a car when he moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul from San Francisco in February 2013, but was pleasantly surprised to find that his adopted city has an extended transit system that meets all of his business and social needs, allowing him and his family to remain car-free.

Mr. Needham, 29, a website developer for nonprofits and small businesses, lives a five-minute walk from a new light-rail system that runs every 10 minutes and takes him into downtown Minneapolis in about 30 minutes for a fare of about $2.

“When we moved here to St. Paul, we realized that we lived on the route of a new light-rail system and a major bus thoroughfare, and we really didn’t need a vehicle,” Mr. Needham said. He said he, his wife Alyscia, and their 18-month-old daughter have been without a car for about a year.

Mr. Needham rides the 11-mile Green Line, which since opening in June has attracted around 36,000 riders on a typical weekday, a number that is already approaching the 41,000 projected for the line by 2030, said Drew Kerr, a spokesman for Metro Transit, the city’s transportation agency. The line cost $957 million to build, half of which was funded by the federal government, Mr. Kerr said. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/us/despite-cheaper-gas-public-transit-ridership-is-up-trade-group-reports.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0