Amtrak ridership up

Will Fleishell points us to this article in USA Today, "Amtrak ridership increases." Although overall, it's only up 1%. But as we know, the real story is the continued growth of commuter railroad services, as well as light rail systems.

Of course, neither Will nor myself are happy with the quote from Ronald Utt, of the Heritage Foundation:

Ronald Utt, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C., says the increased ridership probably has more to do with Amtrak's continued use of taxpayer money to keep fares down on certain routes. "People are willing to take a state-subsidized train as opposed to an unsubsidized bus," Utt says.

You have to hand it to the anti-transit activists. They are out there and quick with the quote. Utt last made this blog with his ridiculous statements about funding for WMATA, which he likens to "the largest earmark in history." See "Heritage Foundation keeps the heat on WMATA ."

I'm thinking that the pro-transit people aren't as well organized. (I know that I certainly don't get paid to advocate for transit in the same way that Utt gets paid to trash transit.)

Speaking of the Heritage Foundation, it bugs me that they are one block from Union Station, but have a big interior-of-the-block parking lot between 3rd and 4th and D and E Streets. They ought to be doing more in the way of "Transportation Demand Management," as should every such institution based in the city with the large number of employees that they have.
The big building in the background is the Heritage Foundation, which is located on the north side of the 200 block of Massachusetts Ave. NE.

And as far as the Northeast corridor service goes, Amtrak probably gets less subsidy than the airlines. Did you know that historically, as a whole the airline industry has experienced more losses in revenue than gains?
------------
Speaking of trains, check out, "'Grand Central is the world's most romantic meeting place: The six most beautiful stations on the planet, chosen by Jonathan Glancey," from The Guardian.

1. St Pancras, London, 1877 (image in the article)
2. Grand Central Terminal, New York, 1913
3. Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1934
4. Helsinki Central, 1919
5. Lahore Railway Station, Pakistan, 1862
6. Union Station, Los Angeles, 1939

Index Keywords: transportation