July 14, 2008
Metro Sets New All-Time Ridership Record
In case we haven't been doing a good enough job drilling it into your head, public transportation has become increasingly popular in the D.C. metro area since gas prices have been going through the roof. Today, WMATA announced that Friday, July 11 saw the Metrorail system hit a brand new all-time record high for ridership, surpassing even that of the day of Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004. What contributed to the 854,638 passengers who rode Metro on Friday? There was a Nationals game, and there was a large convention in town. But there are Nationals games all the time, and there are large conventions in town near every weekend. The message of this news shouldn't be that unusual circumstances led to a new record; it should be that this was more or less a regular summer day, and Metro smashed its old record.
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and, virginia has done nothing to get it's portion of the permanent funding in order so that we can get matching federal dollars. thanks a TON, old dominion. keep it classy.
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Woot! Didn't have to ride on that day. Awesome for me.
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Did tourists with strollers the size of Hummers count as one passenger or six?
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What if we have the police roam the trains with trash barrels and pre-printed receipts collecting every cup of coffee, bagel, hamburger, soda can, etc. and charging the scofflaw $10 on the spot? Dulles rail, purple line, and the new blue line complete with Potomac tunnel will be paid for before Labor Day!
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With all the talk of public transportation usage records, have there been any reports on changes in oil consumption? Seems like there should be a correlation there.
It would be exciting to hear that we've actually reduced our oil consumption, for once.
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The Nats game couldn't have added that much ridership; how many people actually watch that sorry excuse for a team?
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It's actually Maryland which doesn't have a source of dedicated funding for Metro. DC and VA have passed laws which say once all 3 jurisdictions agree, the dedicated funding will be available. So you need to encourage the Maryland lawmakers for dedicated funding for Metro. VA is just having problems for general transportation funds.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001552.html
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The Nats = Les Expos occupées
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The Nats = Les Expos occupés
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betty asked:
It would be exciting to hear that we've actually reduced our oil consumption, for once.Yes. According to the Energy Information Agency (US Department of Energy) US crude oil imports are down slightly from last year (currently 9.5 million bbl/day compared with 10 million bbl/day last year), and US production is down (currently 4.9 million bbl/day compared with 5.2 million bbl/day last year.
Gasoline demand is also off this year, currently about 9.3 million bbl/day compared with 9.7 million bbl/day last year. Gasoline demand has been essentially flat since May. Usually there is a steady increase in demand from February through September (e.g., from 8.8 million bbl/day in Feb 2007 to 9.6 million bbl/day in August 2007).
In case you're wondering, 42 bbl is 42 gallons or about 159 litres. So at $4/gallon, the US spends over $1.5 billion/day on gasoline.
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Actually it is Virginia who is holding up dedicated Metro funding:
"The General Assembly also failed to come up with a permanent funding source for Metro, jeopardizing a possible $1.5 billion in federal funds for the regional transit system. Maryland and the District have already committed their share of the money." -07/11/08
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071102958.html
I'm just glad that Reagan no longer holds the record.
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Maryland has designated its Transportation Trust Fund as a "dedicated" source of funding for Metro. That's where gas tax, titling fees, sales tax on rental cars and other miscellaneous revenue for transportation goes. It pays for highways, transit, ports and airports around the State. This is where the money for Metro has come from since the State took over responsibility for the payment from Montgomery and Prince George's counties, but apparently that's good enough to pass muster with the feds.
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Sorry, in Comment 10 I got my '/blockquote' tag in the wrong place.
My response started with "Yes."
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The Nats actually sold more than 33,000 seats on Friday night...