News Archive

Bus Ridership Booming

Ridership for mass transit reached record highs this year

By Paul Johnson, High Point Enterprise

Thursday, November 20, 2008

HIGH POINT -- The ridership on buses for mass transit agencies such as the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation have reached records this year as commuters coped with exorbitant gas prices. Now that gas prices have dropped about $2 per gallon on average in the past month and a half, PART continues to welcome new and returning riders as people become comfortable with the convenience of mass transit, said agency Executive Director Brent McKinney. PART has set monthly records for mass transit ridership in its 10-county area through this year, including in October as gas prices began to moderate, McKinney said. The October PART ridership was up about 2,900, or 5 percent from September, to 61,130.

PART's ridership increased last month as gas prices began to come down steadily from record levels. Gas prices in North Carolina have dropped for the past six to seven weeks, said Carol Gifford, spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas out of Charlotte. The average price for self-service unleaded in the High Point area fell from an average of $3.86 per gallon Oct. 1 to $1.99 per gallon Wednesday, AAA Carolinas reports. McKinney said he's confident that even if gas prices remain around $2 a gallon, PART won't endure a precipitous decline in ridership.

When gas prices moderated in late 2005 after the spike following Hurricane Katrina, PART ridership numbers continued to increase. "Riding the bus can become addictive. You get somebody that takes you to your front door and drops you off at work. During that time you've read or talked on the cell phone, doing something productive," he said. During this past summer, PART expanded into Davidson and Randolph counties because of requests for mass transit service.

McKinney acknowledges that bus ridership won't be immune if gas prices decline and remain lower, but he doesn't envision a wholesale return by commuters to their passenger cars. "What I would anticipate is that our rate of growth may slow down. But I don't see a lot of people who have been riding the bus going back to the old way," McKinney said.

This article appeared in Thursday's edition of the High Point Enterprise.