T use up despite drop in gas cost
Advocates hope increase reflects shift in habits
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | January 7, 2009
When gas prices began to plummet last summer, transit officials worried that the legions of commuters who were nudged onto the train by costly fill-ups would get back in their cars and forget all about mass transit.
But the latest figures from the MBTA show that even as gas prices have dropped in the past several months, riders are still taking the T in strong numbers, particularly on the commuter rail, where the average number of riders per week soared in November to its highest level in the agency's 44-year history.
The increases, which are also being seen by transit agencies nationwide, have cheered transit advocates, who say the figures suggest that Americans may finally be ending their long love affair with the automobile in favor of cleaner, more efficient modes of transportation.
"It sure seems that even if high gas prices and saving money was initially the thing that brought people to public transit, these new riders have dis covered there are other reasons to stay with it," said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association.
Overall, the number of riders on the MBTA rose 4.5 percent in the first 11 months of last year, as compared with the same period in 2007. In November, the increase was 2.3 percent, compared with the same month in 2007. The biggest increase was on the commuter rail, where ridership rose 5.5 percent in November of 2008 as compared with November 2007, even as gas prices dipped that month below $2 a gallon.
The surge came as little surprise to such commuters as John Gilbrook, 22, who takes the Greenbush line from Nantasket Junction in Hingham to South Station in Boston. He said that even as gas prices have dropped, "it's still a better idea to ride the commuter rail."
"It's just so much more convenient," he said, adding that he doesn't have to worry about shoveling out his truck in the snow or getting stuck in traffic on Interstate 93. "The commuter rail is no worry, no stress."
Melissa Card, a 30-year-old consultant who takes the train from Kingston to South Station, said she is looking at buying a car but still plans to take the commuter rail so she can "save money and live in the suburbs."
"There's the convenience factor, but it's a tough economy out there anyway, so [commuters] are going to continue riding," Card said as she waited at South Station yesterday. "And I'd imagine a lot of people don't want to deal with the hassle of driving into the city."
Emil H. Frankel, a transportation specialist at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said that while it is too soon to declare that Americans have permanently shifted their commuting habits, there is reason to believe that many have made a change.
Nationwide, the number of people taking public transit rose 6.5 percent in June, July, and September of 2008 as compared with the same period in 2007, the largest increase in 25 years, according to the American Public Transportation Association. The increases were seen from Miami to Los Angeles, Seattle to Boston.
"I do think it suggests that people remain uncertain about how long gas prices are going to be down and, hopefully, they've developed the habit of using public transit and commuter rail and understand that, for many people, it offers a real alternative," said Frankel, who was assistant secretary for transportation policy at the US Department of Transportation from 2002 to 2005.
Ed Bailey, who rides from Abington to South Station, said that while "there was a lot of inertia to overcome for people to even try public transit, they probably found out it wasn't as bad as they thought it was."
"I'm not saying it's the greatest thing in the world," he said at a caf? table at South Station, "but it had enough value that some stuck with it."
Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA, hailed the increases not only because they came during a period of falling gas prices, but because they continued even after the MBTA raised fees at all parking lots by $2 a day on Nov. 15. He said he believes new riders simply did not miss driving.
"I think once they switched, they found out it might not have been the transit system they once knew, because we've made a number of improvements to make the trip better," he said, mentioning WiFi service on some commuter rail trains as well as "very good prices, with much greater convenience than sitting in traffic."
Even so, the increases are not likely to ease the T's financial troubles, Grabauskas said. The agency, which has exhausted most of its financial reserves, is facing a projected $150 million deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Fare increases, Grabauskas said, are "certainly not off the table."
Increased ridership is "good news," he said, "but it's certainly not going to be enough to offset what we're looking at now."
Michael Levenson can be reached at
mlevenson@globe.com.
