by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
As if gasoline wasn’t already expensive enough, the recent British Petroleum pipeline problems are predicted to push the price at the pump even higher.
Like fuel costs, the number of riders – especially daily commuters – on the JTA’s fleet of buses is also rising and there’s no end in sight, according to Mike Miller, director of external affairs.
“For the past 23 months in a row, we have seen ridership increase over the same month in the previous year,” said Miller. “June and July were both up 8 percent over the same period in 2005.”
Miller said that a few more than 8 million people rode the bus in 2001, but in 2005 JTA broke the 9 million mark. As of last week, 8.7 million fares had been collected and Miller said he expects that 2006 will be the JTA’s first 10 million-rider year. The number of fares increased 9.3 percent from 2004-05. Miller said he thinks the increase will be more than 10 percent when the 2006 fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
“The buses are getting crowded and we’re delighted,” he said. “It’s good news for everybody. It helps decrease congestion and helps protect the environment, which is very important.”
A study conducted by JTA several months ago when gasoline was (only) $2.45 a gallon revealed that the average commuter spent $20 a week to drive a private vehicle back-and-forth to work for five days. Miller pointed out that the same commuter could ride JTA to work and then back home for $7.50 a week.
“We’re still at $7.50, but the fuel cost is more like $25 a week with gas prices at $3 a gallon or more, plus you have to include what you pay for parking,” said Miller.
With the number of riders increasing every month and no end to exorbitant gas prices in sight, JTA is looking at future options to get even more people on the bus.
“We’d love to have some suburban park-and-ride lots. We’re also looking at what’s called, ‘kiss-and-ride,’ where one person drops another off at a suburban stop and then takes the car to their job,” said Miller. “We’re having conversations now. If population and ridership warrants, we’ll put new plans in place.”