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2 History of Commuter Rail
Pages 9-17

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From page 9...
... nationwide intercity rail ridership was down to just 23 percent of what it had been in 1960 (no comparable commuter rail–specific statistics exist) .14 As revenue declined for many private railroads across the United States and Canada, these private companies cut back or discontinued much of their passenger service, including commuter rail (Fischler 2007)
From page 10...
... Timeline of commuter rail service in North America, 1870 to present. The Long Island Rail Road, Toronto's GO Transit, and MBTA began full public ownership of commuter rail services in 1966, 1967, and 1972, respectively.
From page 11...
... Figure 2.   Revenue commuter rail mileage in the United States, 1960–2023, with mileage added from 2021 to 2023. 140 130 120 110 100 Ridership (in millions)
From page 12...
... This presents an opportunity to broaden the appeal of commuter rail as a mode to a wider share of the traveling public. This analysis focuses on under standing travel markets within regions, focusing on select commuter rail markets in North America.
From page 13...
... Sources: These mode shares are typical values seen on other market assessments for regional and commuter rail: Capacity and Reliability Study, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, January 2021; Commute Seattle, Seattle DOT, April 2019; Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad Key Performance Metrics, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, May 2023; Philadelphia Transit Plan, City of Philadelphia, February 2021; SMART Project: Final Environmental Impact Report, June 2006.
From page 14...
... While in some regions slightly fewer addressable market trips were taken in 2023 than in 2019, other regions with lower post-pandemic ridership saw the same or slightly more addressable market trips taken in 2023 than in 2019. For example, addressable weekday trips in the MARC service area grew 2 percent from 680,000 trips in the fall of 2019 to 692,000 trips in the fall of 2023.
From page 15...
... History of Commuter Rail   15 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2019 2023 Figure 5.   Denver RTD weekday addressable market trips by starting hour. 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 2019 2023 Figure 6.   Tri-Rail weekday addressable market trips by starting hour.
From page 16...
... 16   The Future of Commuter Rail in North America 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2019 2023 Figure 7.   Denver RTD weekend addressable market trips by starting hour. 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 2019 2023 Figure 8.   Tri-Rail weekend addressable market trips by starting hour.
From page 17...
... Commuter rail providers can replicate this methodology for their lines to gain deeper and more current insights into their own markets. Regardless, the analysis shows some noticeable shifts in the travel markets for each region.


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