Ridership was up last year on both on the 77x commuter bus and Davidson Village Rider, Charlotte Area Transit System said Wednesday. The increases came as more people throughout the Charlotte area traded cars for mass transit amid rising gas prices, CATS officials said.
Overall ridership on CATS trains and buses rose 17.4 percent in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30. Increases were reported across most services, including the new Blue Line light rail trains linking south Charlotte and the center city.
“Commuters made over 23 million trips on our services, resulting in an average weekday ridership of 88,502,” Keith Parker, CATS chief executive, said in a press release. “Public transportation in Charlotte hasn’t experienced this type of growth since the 1940s.”
Express buses and “community circulators” such as the Village Riders, also carried more riders across the board.
The 77x from Davidson carried commuters on 186,295 trips during the past year, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier. “It’s definitely going up, especially with gas prices rising,” CATS spokeswoman Brooks Newkirk told DavidsonNews.net.
The Davidson Village Rider, which circulates from Davidson to Cornelius and Huntersville, had 20,003 riders, up 7.1 percent from a year earlier, Ms. Newkirk said. It was the largest increase among the four Village Riders, which averaged 1.8 percent overall. The Village Riders serve north Mecklenburg, with routes in Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville and on McCoy Road, Huntersville. They converge at North County Regional Library, where riders can transfer from one line to another.
Read CATS full July 16, 2008, announcement, “CATS breaks ridership record for 10th consecutive year.”)
TIME FOR A FRESH LOOK AT TRAINS?
Meanwhile, Newsweek reports this week that Americans are reconsidering inter-city trains, which have been out of favor in the automobile age. See “All Eyes on Amtrak: Soaring gas prices and higher airfares are causing Americans to take a closer look at their rail system.” The article says, in part:
Amtrak and a handful of commuter rail lines are trying to grab the moment by using environmental friendliness to appeal to new riders and the taxpayers who fund the systems. There are signs the strategy is working. Over the past two years, Amtrak’s ridership has increased almost 17 percent systemwide. And the recent spike in gas prices has pushed train ridership to capacity on some routes. A hefty funding package for improvements is currently up for debate in Washington, and Amtrak is already exploring ways to enhance service along popular routes. But getting the system up to speed is a tall order.
The Kannapolis Amtrak station is just 15 miles from Davidson. There’s ample free long-term and short-term parking. There are currently two trains daily to and from Raleigh, with a third to be added perhaps by next year. The Carolinian goes on to New York City via Washington, DC. You can’t check baggage there, so if you’re taking more bags than you can manage yourself, you’ll need to go to the Charlotte station. Also, the Crescent doesn’t stop in Kannapolis, so you’ll need to head to Charlotte or Salisbury to ride to Atlanta and New Orleans.
Plans are for the commuter train from Davidson to terminate at a new station on West Trade in Charlotte, and the Amtrak station will be there, too. No one knows when or whether those plans will come to fruition, of course.