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Reporting an increase in riders and revenues is only half the story.  It does not provide a complete picture.  Moreover, looking at just one month is not good analytics.  Most operating and financial managers look at trends over four, six, and twelve month periods.  A one month blip does not say much about long term trends.  Amtrak has released preliminary figures.  The official figures will be released in a week or two with the monthly operating report, which is not yet available.  Audited figures will not be available until the end of the calendar year.  These figures are usually adjusted for a variety of factors.   For the first nine months of FY 2008 Amtrak's riders increased 10.97 per cent over the corresponding 2007 period.  Ticket revenues increased 13.6 per cent, but the cost recovery ratio only increased by .001 per cent, which means the ticket revenues barely outpaced the increase in system operating costs.  Cost is a key element in the accounting equation. Ridership on the Carolinian and Piedmont increased 18.7 and 27.5 per cent over 2007.  Ticket revenues on these two trains increased 23.3 and 24.5 per cent.  But they lost .7 cents and 12.7 cents per passenger mile before the allocation of other charges.  The Carolinian nearly broke even before the allocation of other charges.  It had a 13.2 per cent decrease in loss per passenger mile compared to 2007, whilst the Piedmont realized a 90 per cent increase in the cost per passenger mile.   Ridership on the Crescent increased 11.7 per cent, whilst ticket revenues increased 11 per cent.  The loss per passenger mile increased to 27.6 cents per passenger mile before the allocation of other charges vs. 23.8 per cent in 2007.  This is an increase of approximately 16 per cent.  The average load factor on the Carolinian was an impressive 71 per cent, whilst the load factors for the Piedmont and Crescent were approximately 43 and 50 per cent.
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