Ridership Growth Over The Last Decade
Unless you have been living under a rock or inside a cave for the last decade, transit ridership has exploded. More & more people are turning to mass transit in New York City & the latest issue of “New York By The Numbers” by the Center for an Urban Future showcases this point. Before we get to the actual report, lets first take a look at a story on the report by Dorian Block of the New York Daily News:
While politicians debate whether or not to rescue the MTA to prevent fare hikes and service cuts, a new report shows the borough had the largest increase in bus ridership in the city over the past five years.
An average of 558,919 people rode the bus in the Bronx on weekdays in 2008, which is 43,840 more people than in 2003, says a report called “Transit Overload” put out by the Center for an Urban Future.Twenty Bronx subway stations also had 50% or greater increases in riders.
“This shows how dependent this borough is on public transportation. It is extraordinary,” said Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future.
“More of the Manhattan workforce has had to move to the outer boroughs. For the most part, new immigrants do not have cars,” he continued. “The rise in congestion and oil prices nationwide and in New York has been pushing people to transit.”
As in past years, the Yankee Stadium, Third Ave. at 149th St. and Parkchester subway stops saw the most riders.
But the station with the largest percentage growth of ridership was Bronx Park East — below Pelham Parkway near the Bronx Zoo — with 2,897 riders passing through daily last year, compared with 1,450 per day in 1998.
Click here for the complete story.
Now lets take a look at some interesting facts from the report:
• 20 of the 22 stations with the largest percentage increase in subway ridership were either in the outer boroughs or in Manhattan north of 96th Street.
• In 2008, 62 stations outside of Manhattan had an average weekday ridership of over 10,000 people, up significantly from 46 stations in 2003 and 36 in 1998.
• More than a quarter of all New York City subway stations—111 out of 425—saw an increase in average weekday ridership of 50 percent or more during the past decade. Brooklyn accounted for nearly half (51) of those stations; there were 28 in Manhattan, 20 in the Bronx and 12 in Queens.
• 13 stations on the L line and nine on the N line were among the 50 fastest growing stations citywide. Other lines with several stations on the top-50 list: the 2 (seven stations), 3 (six stations), F (five stations), J (five stations) and M (five stations).
Click here to view and/or download the complete report (.pdf)
I had a chance to read a bit of the report & the statistics do not surprise me at all. Many areas in NYC have underwent or are in the process of gentrification. So with such improvements bringing in new people, ridership had nowhere to go but up.
This is the kind of report that should be printed out & thrown in the face of leaders in Albany. They need to understand that regardless of past MTA transgressions & poor choices by them in partnership with Albany, that they must do what is right for the people. Hopefully reports like this will get through to people who continue to not come up with legitimate fixes for the MTA’s financial crisis. Am I & millions of others asking for too much? I know the answer but does Albany? Only time will tell…..
xoxo Transit Blogger
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