Mass transit use hits 50-year high on pump prices

[phantom power]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans hopping buses and grabbing subway straps has climbed to the highest level in half a century as soaring gasoline costs push more commuters to take mass transit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080310/us_nm/gasoline_mass_transit_dc

[DS1]

1. Right now, in our parking lot

is a guy who got in his car, started it up, set the seat back all the way and went to sleep :eyes:

What an asshole.

[kestrel91316]

4. I've got a neighbor who leaves his engine running in his parked car

for HOURS on the weekend while he details the inside with q-tips(it's a pimpmobile). Maybe he thinks the engine has to be running for the stereo to work. Oy.

[Warpy]

2. Richardson got commuter rail up and running in this state

along the Rio Grande. This is a state that has experienced nothing but a very desultory bus system and taxis in the big cities for mass transit, so he was decried for this huge boondoggle as recently as 2 years ago.

Now he's looking prescient since ridership from the exurbs has increased with every gas price increase.

The line was supposed to reach Santa Fe in 5 years. It'll be finished by the end of this year. I'm looking forward to it because I hate making that drive.

All the exurb towns to the south will have Richardson to thank for the fact that they won't turn into ghost towns as gas prices continue to increase, and they will.

[ajamo]

5. Mass Transit in other countries.

Think deep, if the monies wasted in Bush's Iraq war was placed into mass transit in the United States, think of all the fuel that would have been saved.
But our Government can't get involved in Mass transit because that would be called socialism.
Socialism in certain parts of our establishment should be put in play.
Governor of New Mexico God Bless you, for doing that with mass transit.
electric train systems like they have in Europe, and don't come back and tell me to move there, I'm to old to be moving.
Have a good day, think positive if you can.

[Warpy]

6. The Rail Runner runs on biodiesel

The distances out here are too great for electrical systems to be practical.

[Up2Late]

3. And just imagine if they made Public transport convenient in this country?

The Federal government has done everything in it's power to discourage Public Transportation over the last 100 years, it would be nice if that changed.

[happyslug]

7. Go to the APTA for the original information, much more Rail then Bus.

The Site for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA):
http://www.apta.com/media/releases/080310_ridership.cfm

From the ATPA News Letter:
Light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) had the highest percentage of ridership increase among all modes, with a 6.1 percent increase in 2007. Light rail systems showed double digit increases in the following areas: New Orleans (128.6%); Denver (66.2 %); Saint Louis (27.0%); Philadelphia (26.2%); Kenosha (18.5 %); the state of New Jersey (14.7%); and Memphis (11.3%).

Commuter rail posted the second largest ridership increase at 5.5 percent. The five commuter rail systems with the double digit ridership growth rate in 2007 were located in the following areas: Nashville (257.9%); Santa Fe (96.6%); Harrisburg (41.3%); Seattle (27.4%); Oakland (14.2%); Dallas/Fort Worth (12.1%); Stockton (11.9%); Portland, ME (11.8%); and Pompano Beach, FL (10.3%).

Heavy rail (subways) ridership increased by 3.1%. The heavy rail systems with double digit increases in ridership for 2007 were in the following cities: San Juan (13.2 %) and Atlanta (10.1%).

Bus service saw an increase of 1.0, but in communities with a population of less than 100,000, bus services saw an increase of 6.4% in 2007. Major increases by large bus agencies occurred in the following cities: Seattle (7.5%); Denver (7.0%); and Minneapolis (5.4%).