Light Rail
Basics
U.S. Transit Trips Hit 10.2B in 2009, With Light Rail Up in Nine Cities
The nation's transit systems hosted 10.2 billion trips last year, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported yesterday. While that figure represents a 3.8 percent decline from 2008, APTA's data showed light rail ridership rising in nine cities and the long-term increase in transit use continuing to outpace growth in population and vehicle miles traveled.
March 9, 2010
Economic Downturn Hits Transit Ridership — But Not in These Cities
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) got the mainstream media's attention during the holiday season after reporting that the dismal economy had helped push transit ridership down by 3.8 percent during the first three-quarters of 2009, when compared with the previous year.
January 4, 2010
Streetfilms: Take a Ride on the Seattle Streetcar
Seattle's South Lake Union Streetcar is a 1.3-mile line that opened in December 2007, the first leg in the city's commitment to new transit and light rail. It passed the half million passenger milestone in its first year, surpassing ridership projections.
March 10, 2009
Transit Blamed for Suburban St. Louis Crime
Last week Freakonomics picked up a story from the Riverfront Times that connects an uptick in shoplifting, fighting and other crimes in the St. Louis suburbs to a two-year-old expansion of the city's MetroLink rail system.
October 30, 2008