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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- New numbers from the Utah Transit Authority show a 17 percent drop in light rail ridership for 2007, agency officials said.
But there's no cause for concern. The number was derived from a new rider counting system that the agency believes is more accurate than counts of TRAX riders from previous years. "It is our belief that TRAX ridership is probably flat when compared to 2006," said Jerry Benson, UTA chief operating officer. "What you're seeing is a 17 percent difference in the more accurate counting method."
The new automated system uses infrared monitors on the door of each TRAX car. Individual riders are counted as then enter and exit the train.
Previous counts -- now considered inflated -- were conducted manually, with the number of riders in the lead car used to estimated the overall number of riders on a given train. Counts were conducted monthly on random days, UTA officials said.
The old method is approved for use by the federal government, but UTA switched to increase accuracy and efficiency, Benson said. "We just didn't know how much more accurate it was until we put it into place," Benson said.
Ridership reports for 2007 shoes 11.4 million people used TRAX during the first 11 months of the year. That's an average of 40,294 riders per weekday, according to the report.
Longtime transit and TRAX opponent Michael Packard, of Sandy, said the report proves UTA has been deceptive about it ridership numbers.
------ Information from: Deseret Morning News
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
