A TriMet Yellow Line MAX train arrives at a station. In the Portland metro area and across the nation, commuters are in a transit-riding mood.
On TriMet, bus and train boardings were up 2.1 percent in April, the thirteenth consecutive month of increased ridership on Oregon’s largest transit system.
Meanwhile, new numbers from the American Public Transportation Association show the use of public transit is soaring nationwide.
During the first quarter of 2012, Americans took nearly 2.7
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A TriMet Yellow Line MAX train arrives at a station. In the Portland metro area and across the nation, commuters are in a transit-riding mood.
On TriMet, bus and train boardings were up 2.1 percent in April, the thirteenth consecutive month of increased ridership on Oregon’s largest transit system.
Meanwhile, new numbers from the American Public Transportation Association show the use of public transit is soaring nationwide.
During the first quarter of 2012, Americans took nearly 2.7 billion trips, a jump of 5 percent over the same period last year, according to the APTA report released Monday (PDF).
It was the fifth consecutive quarter of U.S. public transit ridership increases. All public transit modes saw increases. Light rail use accelerated by 6.7 percent and heavy rail use increased by 5.5 percent.
Historically, growing public transit ridership has served as a harbinger for job growth and recovery. But with the economy apparently stuck in the slow lane, analysts say volatile gas prices may be the biggest reason that workers are leaving their cars at home.
“More and more people are choosing to save money by taking public transportation when gas prices are high,” said Michael Melaniphy, APTA president and CEO.
At the same time, Melaniphy said there are undeniable signs in the transit numbers that the economy is recovering, if only slowly. “In some regions of our nation,” he said, “the local economy is rebounding and people are commuting to their new jobs by using public transportation.”
On Monday, as it prepares for its busiest ridership weekend of the year with the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade, TriMet is expected to announce its May ridership numbers. Officials say they will show yet another increase over the same month in 2011.
In April, weekday TriMet rides were up 2.2 percent on buses, 0.2 percent on MAX and 5.6 on WES commuter rail in Washington County.
There were 340,000 average weekday boardings on TriMet during the month. But the APTA did not list Portland as one of the metropolitan areas experiencing record ridership.
Ironically, the national surge in public-transit use is materializing as a transportation-funding bill remains stuck in the mud of election-year politics in Congress.
However, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the national ridership numbers prove that federal transportation funding is a smart investment.
“I have said repeatedly that–when the demand is there and the planning is effective–if you build it, they will come,” LaHood said on his blog. “And these cities are proof positive, offering their commuters the transit options that fit them best.”
TriMet is also preparing to raise fares and cut service to deal with a $12 million budget shortfall at a time when Oregon commuters cringe, groan and cuss at the nation’s fifth highest gas prices.
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