Results tagged “ridership”

Following a pattern we've already seen in the CTA's numbers from '08, Metra reported last week that their 2008 ridership numbers also hit a record high. For the year, Metra saw nearly 87 million rides, an almost four percent increase over 2007's total of 83 million. The most popular line, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Metra's rides, was the the BNSF Railway Co. (Aurora to Chicago). The upward trend, according to Metra, is one that's been going on for 25 years as the railway has seen traffic increase by around two percent a year since 1983. Metra also announce a planned $112-million improvement on the Union Pacific West line which will begin in March and be completed by late next year.

Given the economic crisis as well as high gas prices, it comes as no surprise that the CTA's 2008 ridership numbers were way up. The agency announced it had 526.4 million rail and bus rides in 2008, an increase of 26.8 million (or 5.4 percent) over 2007. The overall total is the highest since 1992 and it's also the largest single-year increase in 34 years. That worked out to 1.68 million rides per weekday. The big gainer was the buses, which saw a total of 328.2 million rides rides, up 6.1 percent over 2007. The CTA is attributing a part of this jump to the Blue Line slow zone work and the Brown Line expansion work. Rail rides increased by 4.1 percent to 198.2 million. Also not surprising: the largest decreases in ridership occurred at train stations near the city's two airports, something the CTA blames on the decrease in air travel. Check out the CTA's full report at their site.

Well, at least someone is having a good week. That someone is CTA Prez Ron Huberman who was more than happy to point out that slow zones on the Blue Line are getting less by the day, improving travel times to O'Hare. Now he can take pleasure in both arch-rival Gov. Blagojevich's downfall (take that, free senior rides!) and bask in the glory of the CTA's highest ridership in 16 years. For the first time since 1992, the CTA has broken through the half-billion mark in terms of riders, on pace for 528 million total rides for the year. According to the press release, "Ridership has increased 5.5 percent system-wide, with an increase in bus ridership of 6.7 percent over 2007 and an increase of 3.8 percent on the rail system." It's good to know there are no problems at all with our public transit system and that everything is firing on all cylinders, literally and figuratively. Nope, no problems. At all.

The CTA is creating a stink with some with new signs that are aimed at "continuous riders" that critics say are aimed at the city's homeless. The signs have gone up recently and some, like Chicago Carless' Mike Doyle, suggest the signs are aimed at curbing the number of homeless people who take to the warm train cars during Chicago's harsh winters.

Any regular ‘L’ rider can attest to the wave of homeless Chicagoans who take to the warm interiors of CTA rail cars during the city’s brutal winter months. Although generally a benign presence in the system, their downtrodden visual appearance–and in many cases odor–earns them the ire of many fellow, more fortunate passengers.

Continue reading "CTA To "Continuous Riders": Get Off Our Train"