One of the more interesting Sound Transit publications are their ridership reports they publish quarterly. For
example they provide costs per boarding (cpb) and boardings per trip (bpt) so costs
per trip (cpt) can be determined.
The numbers for a Sounder Train for 2011 were $12.71 cpb x 379.98 bpt=
$4829.54 cpt.
The northern line (Everett to Seattle) made 8 trips per day
for a total of 2080 trips per year (assuming 260 commuter days) and total cost
of $10,045,443 for the year. The
total number of commuters for the year was 233,674 so the cost per commuter
ride was $42.99. Sound Transits 2012
budget document (more on that in a late blog) estimates the average Sounder commuter
paid $3.05 per trip in 2011. Thus
ST lost $39.95 per trip or $79.90 for each riders round trip or $20,774 per
rider per year.
The small print at the bottom of the report explains these
costs do not include depreciation (presumably significant on $4-5 million train
cars). They don’t mention the
costs associated with the nearly $500 million ST invested to initiate the
service.
Sound Transit’s ST 510 provides bus connections between
Everett Station and Seattle (5th and Pine) every 10-15 minutes from
5:20 to 8:31 AM with the same return frequency from 2:26 to 5:28 PM. (Less frequent service is available from 4:10 AM until 11:00 PM.) ST’s ridership reports Express bus
ridership costs, on average, $7.06 cpb of which riders pay (per budget document)
$1.73. Thus, ST subsidizes each
bus rider $5.33 per trip or $2771.60 per year.
To be fair, very few commuters will use public transit 260
days per year. However, it doesn’t
take a CPA to figure out which option is better cost wise. Commuter rail takes 59 minutes
from Everett to the King Street Station. It takes 56 minutes for ST 510 route from Everett
Station to 5th and Pine in Seattle; much closer to most commuters final
destination. It’s no wonder about
1 million riders used ST510 in 2011.
(Their report combines ST510 riders with ST512 riders which goes via
Lynnwood so exact ST510 number not known.)
ST should be asked to explain why they continue with this
service. Those who want to commute
by rail from Everett to Seattle and back also have Amtrak as an option. It leaves Everett at 10:02 AM and
returns at 6:50. Not as attractive
time wise put available if needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment