Public transportation ridership numbers jumped significantly in the first six months of 2007 compared to the first half of 2006, according to a new report released by APTA.  

More than 5 billion trips were taken during early 2007, demonstrating a 2.3% increase in the second quarter and a 1.1% increase in the first quarter of 2007. The 10.1 billion trips that were taken in 2006 were the highest in 49 years, said APTA President William W. Millar.  

Commuter rail had shown the highest growth rate of all modes at 5.5%, with Harrisburg, Pa. (47.5%) and Dallas (17.0%) coming in at the top. Light rail (modern light rail, streetcars, trolleys and heritage trolleys) reported the second highest increase at 4.1%. 

The Regional Transportation District of Denver, Colo. had the largest increase, at 78.9%. St. Louis, Mo. (37.8%) and New Orleans, La. (34.2%) also experienced substantial jumps in ridership. Heavy rail (subways) ridership grew nationally by 2.8%, with Atlanta, Ga. (10.7%) and the state of New Jersey (7.2%) receiving the largest increases. Bus ridership increased nationally by 0.6%. Demand response (paratransit) ridership increased by 3.7%, and all other types of public transit ridership increased by 0.6%.  

For the complete report, visit: www.apta.com/research/stats/ridership/

APTA has also released a new report that gives the most recent profile of public transportation passengers, titled, “A Profile of Public Transportation Passenger Demographics and Travel Characteristics Reported in On-Board Surveys." Data was collected from 150 on-board vehicle passenger surveys, summarized by transit agencies from responses by more than 496,000 public transit riders from 2000-2005, representing transportation systems that carry 60% of all transit trips in the U.S.