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SEPTA sees a 4 percent increase in ridership

By Paul Nussbaum, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: February 26, 2011

With gas prices rising and unemployment slowly declining, more Philadelphia-area commuters are riding mass transit.

For the seven months ending in January, SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and trains carried 182.5 million riders, compared with 175.4 million during the same period a year earlier.

Travel on Regional Rail trains showed a slight decline as the battered commuter rail fleet was hampered by weather-related delays and a shortage of operable railcars.

The 4 percent increase in SEPTA ridership was led by an increase of nearly seven million riders on the buses, subways, and trolleys of the City Division. A smaller increase of about 400,000 riders was recorded for the buses and trolleys of the Suburban Division. Regional Rail ridership was off by 78,000 riders, or 0.4 percent, for the seven-month period.

"The increase in ridership is probably due to a combination of economic factors," said SEPTA chief financial officer Richard Burnfield, "including the price of gasoline and the slightly improving job market. We also believe that the stimulus-funded improvements we've made at many of our stations and along the Media/Sharon Hill Line have made a difference."

Ridership on the PATCO commuter line between South Jersey and Center City was up 3.1 percent in January, with 820,426 passengers this year, compared with 795,726 last year.

For 2010, PATCO ridership was up about 0.9 percent from 2009, at 10.1 million passengers.

Fewer drivers used the Delaware River toll bridges in 2010, compared with 2009, though traffic began to increase by year's end. The four Delaware River Port Authority bridges - the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross, and Commodore Barry - counted 50.4 million vehicles through their toll booths in 2010, compared with 50.6 million in 2009.

Bridge traffic, hit by toll increases and regional unemployment, has been declining since 2007, when it peaked at 55.1 million vehicles.

Contact staff writer Paul Nussbaum at 215-854-4587 or pnussbaum@phillynews.com.