Tag: ridership highs

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A look at Amtrak California ridership – February 2016

On By jamesinclair

The recent news that the Amtrak San Joaquin line is getting a 7th daily train inspired me to ask, how is ridership doing? Long-time readers might remember that Amtrak ridership updates used to be a frequent (quarterly) feature on this blog, but the last one I did was in December…of 2012! Oops. Well, I’ve updated my spreadsheets, so let’s take a look at how ridership has been doing on California’s three state-supported Amtrak lines.

We begin with a chart showing all three California lines over the past 15 months. That allows us to see seasonal changes over the course of the year, and get a brief reference of year-on-year progress. Click to read more!

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One year after opening, Expo line ridership meeting projections for 2020

On By jamesinclair

A bit over a year ago, the city of Los Angeles welcomed its newest (and long delayed) light rail line, called the Expo Line. Taking riders between downtown LA and Culver City (and eventually Santa Monica), the line had been greatly anticipated to fill a large gap in the metro system. For one, the line would have three stops serving USC, which includes a stop at the famous and frequently used LA Coliseum.

Not everyone was excited about the line. One conservative group, the Reason Foundation, which had spent years yelling about the horrors of rail transit in LA, sent out two reporters to the new line to count, and thus estimate, ridership. They used their loose estimates to declare the line a failure. Click to read more!

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Amtrak California Ridership Update

On By jamesinclair

Nothing quite says Christmas like fresh graphs and Amtrak ridership stats. Since I haven’t done one of these Amtrak California ridership updates since August, I figured we were well overdue in taking a look at the most recent trends. In my last update, we had ridership stats up to May, today I have until September.

The San Joaquin continues to be the line showing the greatest gains in ridership. The Capitol Corridor and Pacific Surfliner are not showing much growth, as they are pretty stable compared to last years numbers (up a bit, then down a bit). Next year should continue to show growth on all lines as the economy improves, resulting in more people moving about. Megabus has started service between Sf and Sacramento which may impact Amtrak ridership in that corridor. Click to read more!

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Amtrak California ridership continues to grow in 2012

On By jamesinclair

This is my sixth time posting a summary of Amtrak California ridership and the story continues to be the same – more riders. Those increases come with a poor economy, no improvements in service and (slight) increases in fares. The fastest grower continues to be the San Joaquin service, which runs from Bakersfield to Oakland or Sacramento, which just so happens to be the starting point for California’s future high speed rail service.

Amtrak has just released the May 2012 numbers, so lets take a look inside.

In 2008, hitting 80,000 riders on the San Joaquin was a big deal. In 2011, the train broke past 100,000 riders for the first time. This year the San Joaquin didn’t even go under 80,000, and has already seen two months of 100,000+ ridership. That’s with the summer ridership not being reported yet. Click to read more!

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Expo line ridership increasing rapidly – 16,569 in June

On By jamesinclair

A little less than three months ago, LA’s Expo Light Rail line finally opened after years of delay. The launch wasn’t perfect, as there were many kinks being worked out, and travel times were slower than expected (train times are now matching their schedules).

While many were happy to celebrate the launch of a new travel option, some were quick to proclaim doom. If you recall, I wrote a couple of posts about how the Reason Foundation decided that Expo was a failure based on some random counts they made within days of the line opening. They then took those random counts, and decided that they were an accurate reflection of lifetime ridership on Expo. Click to read more!

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US transit ridership rises, but continues falling in Fresno

On By jamesinclair

The New York Times reported yesterday that transit ridership in the US has increased drastically in the past year.

Americans took 200 million more rides last year on subways, commuter trains, light-rail systems and public buses than they did the year before, according to a new report by a leading transit association.

Americans took 10.4 billion rides on public transportation in 2011 — a billion more than they took in 2000, and the second most since 1957, according to a report being released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association.

New York Times

The NYT attributes that increase both due to falling unemployment numbers, and also rising gas prices. I agree with that those factors do play some part, but it’s not the whole story. Unemployment is still quite high, by historical standards, and yet ridership is the highest it’s been since the 1950’s. That indicates that some people are shifting their mode of travel, even with the availability of disposable income. Click to read more!

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Amtrak California ends 2011 with continued high ridership

On By jamesinclair

It may almost be March, but Amtrak has just released their December report, meaning we can take a look at Amtrak California ridership for the end of the year. When I last wrote about Amtrak ridership the August and September reports had just been released. My lack of posting hasn’t been because ridership has been poor. Quite the contrary, ridership continues to exceed previous highs, and the year ended quite well.

For the October-December period, ridership is up over 2010 on two of the lines.
Year on year ridership changes
San Joaquin : +8.6%
Capitol Corridor : +6.9%
Pacific Surfliner : -6.1% Click to read more!

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San Joaquin (Amtrak) ridership continues to soar – is HSR to blame?

On By jamesinclair

Amtrak has finally caught up with their monthly status reports, and their August and September numbers are now available.

What really popped out from these reports was the incredibly impressive numbers from the San Joaquin route, which services California’s Central Valley and is where the first phase of High Speed Rail (HSR) is set to be constructed. To HSR detractors, this section of the state is known as “nowhere”, a land of farms and vast distances, where transit is simply unfeasible.

The latest numbers don’t break the record set in July, because that is typically the route’s best month, but 2011 did feature the highest August and September on record….and by a large amount. Click to read more!

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Amtrak California breaks ridership records. Yes, again.

On By jamesinclair

If this post feels familiar it’s because Amtrak has been having a very good year, and the California routes have especially been enjoying a surge in riders. The Pacific Surfliner is now the second most popular train line in the nation, beating out the Acela for the #2 spot.

I wonder if all the High Speed Rail press has been working as an advertising campaign for passenger rail in the state?

Just two weeks ago, Amtrak belatedly released their June report, showing the San Joaquin breaking 100,000 for the first time. That was an increase from April, in which the California trains also experienced new records. Click to read more!

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Amtrak’s San Joaquin breaks 100,000 monthly passengers for first time ever

On By jamesinclair

Amtrak has finally released their June performance report (2 months late, apparently due to one of those classic SAP switchover screwups) and California ridership numbers continue to impress.

Most notably, the San Joaquin broke the 100,000 barrier for the first time ever, after missing it by 609 passengers in April of this year.

The San Joaquin noted 100,947 riders, a big improvement from 88,638 in June of last year, and up 3,000 from last month.

The Capitol Corridor had 145,495, an increase from 140,941 in June of last year but a small decrease from May.

The Pacific Surfliner recorded 239,984, a massive 30,000 passenger increase from June of 2010, but also less than this May. Click to read more!