CATA Ridership Sets New Records
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Categories: General
Contact: Pat Gilbert
517.394.1100Lansing,
MI—The Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) set a new annual
ridership record in fiscal year 2008. CATA gave 11,306,339 rides
between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008—the Authority's strongest year
in its 37-year history. The 5.8% increase (FY07 to FY08) represents
over 623,000 more passenger trips taken in FY08. The most significant
growth this past year occurred in urban routes throughout Greater
Lansing. September 2008 ridership of 1,250,878* broke all of CATA's
monthly ridership records. In that month alone, customers took over
156,783 more rides compared to the same month in 2007. Average CATA
weekday ridership in September 2008 was 53,000 system-wide.
Here are some examples of ridership growth over the past year:
- Route 1 Downtown Lansing - Meridian Mall
1.75 million rides in FY08- nearly 150,000 more rides than '07 - Route 5 South Cedar - Edgewood
Over 570,000 rides- nearly 75,000 more than FY07 - Route 8 S. Pennsylvania - Holt
Nearly 435,000 rides- an increase of over 60,000 rides - Route 12 West Michigan - Waverly
Increased nearly 19%; providing over 123,000 rides - Route 14 North Grand River - Airport
Grew over 25%, providing over 211,000 rides - Route 20 South Harrison - Jolly - Dunckel
Gave over 41,000 more rides in FY08- over 226,000 total for FY08 - Route 24 East Lansing - East Lake Lansing Road
Over 127,000 rides in FY08 - Route 26 Abbot - Chandler
Passengers took over 620,000 rides in 2008- over 100,000 more rides than 2007 - The two limited stop commuter services - the Mason Limited and Williamston/Webberville Limited - showed 38.8% and 30.4% increases respectively.
- CATA Spec-Tran provided 348,301 rides in FY08- a 3.2% increase.
- Passengers
took over 98,000 rides in rural areas - on CATA Rural Service, Mason
and Williamston Redi-Rides and Connectors. That is an annual increase
of 14.7% in rural services.
"We are doing all we can to
meet the growing demand for public transportation," stated Sandy
Draggoo, CATA CEO/Executive Director. "Regular customers are using CATA
for more trips then in the past. Many work commuters started using CATA
services to save money when gas prices rose. We are working hard to
stretch our resources to meet this growing demand."
Maintaining
responsive public transportation service is especially important in
hard economic times, but CATA is facing a significant funding
shortfall; primarily due to stagnant State funding and the rise in
costs for fuel and other operating expenses. This funding shortfall
prompted the Authority to ask for a 0.787 mill increase in the cities
of Lansing and East Lansing and in Delhi, Lansing and Meridian
townships. For a home valued at $100,000 this equals $39.35 per year.
That request will be on the November 4th ballot.
For more information on CATA services, please contact CATA's Customer Information Representatives at
517.394.1000.
*Note- September FY08 contained two additional weekdays compared to FY07.