Officials point to the roiling fluctuations of gas prices as a major influence on public transportation ridership.
Bombardier Transportation submitted a winning bid valued at approximately $204.6 million over the five-year, eight-month contract term. The contract also includes a five-year renewal option, valued at $205 million.
The visit highlighted the significant economic benefit that the MTA brings to upstate New York through its Capital Program. Bombardier has built more than 2,000 subway and commuter railcars for the MTA in Plattsburgh since it opened its railcar plant in 1995.
Unlike many other San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies, the agency hasn't made the information available on 511, the regional transit information service. Software issues have delayed a real-time bus information system for years.
Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, claims the Chicago Transit Authority may have inflated by up to $150 million the federal funding it received since 1982 by "fraudulently over-reporting" the number of miles buses travel while in service.
From Oct. 3, 2011 to Oct. 2, 2012, the TTC carried just over 510 million riders. By the end of this year, the agency expects to have carried 514 million riders, with a projected ridership of 528 million in 2013.
Findings from the study by the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology show that the combined costs of housing and transportation in the nation’s largest 25 metro areas have swelled by 44% since 2000 while incomes have failed to keep pace.