Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

This is the fourth consecutive year that fixed-route ridership increased and the third consecutive year that new ridership records were set.

Of the 81,000-plus boardings on Oxford-University Transit, 78,805 of the riders represented Ole Miss staff, faculty and students.

Set a record over its 47-year history, up from 1.34 million trips in 2008 on an average weekday. The agency attributed the increase to higher gas prices and employment numbers.

A year-over-year comparison of FY 2010 to FY 2009 shows total Amtrak ridership grew 5.7 percent, or about 1.55 million passengers, and all Amtrak business lines experienced growth including the Northeast Corridor (up 4.3 percent), long-distance trains (up 6.6 percent), and state-supported and other short-distance routes (up 6.5 percent).

In all, MNR provided 84,220,427 trips last year with 83,554,482 rides taken aboard its trains, representing a 3.9 percent increase compared to 2007, and includes ridership on the railroad's ferries and buses, which reached 665,945 in 2008, a one-year increase of 9 percent.