News Releases
News from the City of Lawrence for Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
(Sent: 2008-09-23 06:37:56)NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 News from the City of Lawrence
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Contact: Casey Toomay, Interim Public Transit Administrator, 832-3409
Danny Kaiser, Assistant Director, KU Parking & Transit, 864-7275
(Lawrence, KS) – The Lawrence Transit System has received a top honor for increased ridership from the Federal Transit Administration.
The Award of Excellence was presented to staff members last week at the annual meeting of the Kansas Public Transit Association in Wichita. It was granted for the highest percentage increase in ridership in the Kansas Urbanized Area Transit Program for 2007. Annual ridership in 2007 increased by 45%.
The increase is attributed to the addition of a Park & Ride facility at the University of Kansas. Through a partnership, the City of Lawrence assisted the university in acquiring federal funding for five transit vehicles to be operated for the Park & Ride system; no city funds were used in the acquisition.
“This is a great example of this kind of success we can have when the city and university collaborate on transit,” said Danny Kaiser, assistant director of KU Parking & Transit. “I think it is just an indicator of the kinds of good things we can do together for the benefit of KU and Lawrence.”
FTA regulations require all ridership generated as a result of federal funding to be recorded in the National Transit Database on a monthly basis. According to the database, the Lawrence urbanized area provided a total of 693,959 rides in 2007, a 45% increase over the 477,000 rides provided in 2006. Other urban transit systems in Kansas competing for the award include Topeka, Johnson County, Wichita, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
Mokhtee Ahmad, Regional Administrator for Region 7 of the FTA, said the agency began presenting these awards annually in 2002. The Award of Excellence is given to both an urban and a rural transit system each year. Lawrence won the award in the urban division in 2004 and 2005. “Congratulations to the employees of the T,” Ahmad said. “And to the riders for choosing public transportation as a mode of choice in Lawrence.”
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Contact: Casey Toomay, Interim Public Transit Administrator, 832-3409
(Lawrence, KS) – For the second month in a row, ridership on the T has increased over the same period last year. In July, ridership was up 8.3 percent with the fixed-route system providing 33,292 rides, compared to 30,751 in July 2007. August showed an 8 percent increase, with 35,349 fixed-route trips compared to 32,744 in August 2007.
A little more than a year ago, the transit system began the first of a two-part fare increase, raising the cost of a ride from $.50 to $1.00. Ridership began to decline after the increases were implemented, but revenues went up, creating greater financial support for the system. From January through August 2008, farebox and pass sales have increased 45 percent over the same period last year.
Since the first year of operation in 2001, when 155,737 fixed-route trips were provided, through 2007, when 388,325 fixed-route trips were provided, T fixed-route ridership has grown by 149 percent, exceeding industry average growth rates. In 2004, 2005, and 2007 the T received awards from the Federal Transit Administration for the highest ridership increase among urban transit systems in Kansas.
Rising gas prices have led to increased use of public transit across the country. The American Public Transportation Association reports that nationally public transit ridership climbed an average of 3.4 percent for the first quarter of 2008. In 2007, passengers took 10.3 billion trips on U.S. public transportation—the highest number of trips taken in fifty years.
The Lawrence Transit System travels throughout the community transporting people to work, school, medical appointments, and shopping. For assistance with trip planning, call 312-7054 or visit www.lawrencetransit.org to see a route map and timetable.
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