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Posted on 01/14/2011 11:26:47 AM PST by CedarDave
Fewer riders took the Rail Runner Express in the last quarter of 2010, in part because there were fewer trains to take after Saturday service was reduced.
New numbers show passengers in the last quarter of 2010 took 268,793 trips, compared with 301,386 in the fourth quarter of 2009.
"(The difference) is almost entirely explained by our loss of ridership on the weekends," said Chris Blewett, the train project manager.
October of last year saw a drop of 15.7 percent compared with the previous October, when the train offered a popular special service for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
November 2010 saw the lowest ridership of the two years, with passengers making 81,972 trips, compared with 90,105 the same month the year before, an almost 9 percent decrease. December saw a decrease of almost 7 percent.
The numbers aren't good news for train advocates who hope to keep the service from Belen to Santa Fe in the face of what is sure to be a hard look by Gov. Susana Martinez.
The governor has said she wouldn't have built the train had she been governor at the time, but wants to look at ways that it could be improved, including possibly selling it to a private company. The new administration, however, has no concrete plans yet.
Opponents say they are not surprised by the latest numbers. "The novelty is continuing to wear off and ridership is dropping. Eventually it'll hit a bottom, maybe in a year or two," said Paul Gessing of the conservative Rio Grande Foundation, which has opposed the large taxpayer subsidies for the train and is suggesting cutting the service as a way to balance the budget.
(Excerpt) Read more at santafenewmexican.com ...
Check out the comments at the bottom of the article (the New Mexican is free); some savvy folks out there that have caught on that it costs just under $25 million to operate and brings in about $4 million.
Also, the socialist mayor of Santa Fe wants to take the depot away from the privately operated Santa Fe-Southern and turn it into a meet and greet visitor's center plus kick the tourist railroad engines and cars out of the yard so the RR can park there over night.
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Another Willie Green project up in smoke.
replacing it with a BUS!!
There are places where traditional commuter rail works. Florida, especially the east coast, has been urbanized enough so the traffic might be there to provide a good farebox recovery. However the biggest boondoggle is the so-called high speed rail project between Orland and Tampa/St. Pete. It’s supposed to handle commuters but will just be another Disney World-type attraction. The costs are enormous and of cost the contractors are drooling over the idea of all that government money (our money, in case they forgot) that will be spread around. That is what he needs to shut down.
replacing it with a BUS!!
History repeating itself. One can look at old passenger timetables from the 30's on and see the exact same thing. Moreover, once the service deteriorates to bus levels, passengers turn to the automobile.
I’m guessing Boxcar Willie’s ACORN grant got pulled.
Pray for America
America will be bankrupt before the environmentalists are satisfied.
If a project makes economic sense, then no government subsidies should be necessary.
If government subsidies are needed, the project should not be built.
When the passenger load is down to the engineer and conductor.
You got that right. There is already an interstate that runs directly from Orlando to St. Pete. The only way possible that rail can have any success is to supply a route that does not currently exist.
They've been talking for years here in Georgia about running rail lines in between the lanes of the interstate. Dumb, dumb, dumb. A route like Atlanta-Jax or Macon-Columbus-Birmingham could work, but only because there is no existing direct interstate hwy between those points.
And people complain about history majors being liberal. We all could have told you this boondoggle wouldn’t end well.
Well right now they are at service levels of say 100/per bus, at 12 busses a day.
So you could run a bus ever half hour and service the route.
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