Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos
I don't know official CR ridership #'s. I know the press is reporting overall T ridership overall is higher. However, I certainly know many who have switched away from the commuter rail. My point being, even assuming CR ridership is up, it doesn't mean that the T is not losing a lot of former or potential riders.
For example, new subdivisions are constantly being built on the outer fringes of suburbia which should result in new ridership and a better job market with more commuters can often mask the fact that some existing riders are leaving transit. I personally think commuter rail ridership would be much higher than current levels if tolls and gas taxes had been increased over the last 15 years and the comm. rail had lower fare hikes than has otherwise been the case in recent past.
I don't think its sufficient to say overall ridership is not down, let's call it a day, and conclude there are no problems with the pricing structure on a policy level. I think most reasonable people think that having to drop nearly $20 (or more if you happen to live further out than rte. 128) to commute into Boston via transit is not a reasonable way to encourage mass transit use.