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When will Amtrak Ridership stats be out?

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<p>[quote user="schlimm"]</p> <p> </p> <div class="quote-header"> </div> <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-user">Sam1</div> <div class="quote-content"> <p> </p> <div class="quote-header"> </div> <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-user">schlimm</div> <div class="quote-content"> <p>Customers on the retail level are typiclly measured by the number times purchases are made at a store.  For transportation, the number of passengers carried is the metric for airlines.   If I flew Delta five times last year or five different people flew once, that's still five passengers.   Customers are not measured, AFAIK.</p> </div> </blockquote> <div class="quote-footer"> </div> <p> </p> <p>The number of customers carried by Amtrak or other commercial carriers is not reported as you indicated.  But Amtrak has the information, or it could compile it easily.</p> <p>Amtrak, Greyhound, Megabus, Boltbus, as well as each commercial air carrier, lifts electronic tickets from their passengers.  The information is contained in a computer database and, amongst other things, is used to identify their loyality customers.  It would be easy to determine the number of customers.  Write one or two lines of code to eliminate duplicate records and run the program.  It would spit out the number of customers in a flash.</p> <p>If Amtrak were required to report the number customers it carried, it would show that fewer Americans depend on Amtrak than is implied by reporting riders or passengers.  The same would apply for the other commercial carriers.  By contrast the number of licensed motorists is reported in National Transportation Statistics.</p> <div style="clear:both;"> </div> <p> </p> </div> </blockquote> <div class="quote-footer"> </div> <p> </p> <p>I agree.  However, the same is true of the airlines.  In both cases,what really matters is how much is the service or specific route used.  Whether 100 diferent people each ride 2 times in one year or 5 folks ride 40 times, the number ofpassengers and, all else being equal,the revenue as well.  In fact the frequent flyers are often business folks paying a higher fare than then once-a-year person who finds a bargain. [/quote]</p> <p>True, ridership numbers are important.  But they only tell half the story. Knowing how many customers (people) are served would give us a better idea of how many people are dependant on Amtrak, Megabus, the commercial airlines, etc.</p> <p>Amtrak carried 31.6 million passengers or riders in FY13.  If its customer base were only 15 million people, which may be reasonable, that is a different picture than the one painted by 31.6 million passengers.</p> <p>Knowing whether 100 customers made 2 trips in a year or 5 customers made 40 trips is important.  Repeat customers making many trips signal that they value the service enough to come back.  On the other hand, if a large number of customers make only a few trips, they may be saying never again, as I have heard from numerous friends who gave Amtrak a try.</p> <p>The number of customers also tells us how many taxpayers are using the system.  Knowing the number of taxpayers that use the system could be used to determine how much they contribute toward any federal and state subsidies. In some instances, given a large customer base, they may be covering most or all of the difference between what they pay at the price point and what a carrier receives in direct or indirect government transfers to carry them.  </p> <p> </p>
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