(The Boston Globe posted the following Associated Press article on its website on July 7.)
PORTLAND, Maine — Amtrak’s Downeaster, which runs between Boston and Portland, appears to be making up some lost ground from a slump in ridership during the winter and early spring, officials say.
Overall, both revenues and ridership this year are lower than during the inaugural year, but rail officials remain optimistic about the future of the service that began in December 2001.
A speedier train, more convenient schedule, better marketing efforts, and an improved economic climate will increase ridership, said Ron Roy, Maine’s director of passenger transportation.
The numbers looked particularly bad earlier in the year as a ”bubble of curiosity” created by the novelty of the service dissipated, he said.
Ridership dropped 20 to 30 percent in the winter and early spring. But May ridership was down only 7 percent, and the numbers evened out last month, said John Englert, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which runs the service.
While the first-year numbers were something of a fluke, the first part of this year wasn’t normal, either.
The transportation industry across the board was hurt by factors that include the weak economy, rough winter weather, fears of terrorism, and the war in Iraq, he said.
”The whole industry froze up. Nobody was going to travel,” Englert said. ”People just sat at home and watched the war on TV.”
The low ridership levels caused the authority to cancel plans to increase ticket prices as much as 5 percent on days with high ridership levels.
In an effort to avoid losing more riders, the train authority kept the current one-way adult fare of $21. While it also kept its same-day round-trip fair $35, it eliminated the round-trip discount for weekends.
The authority also has cut costs by eliminating two office positions and cutting the food service budget by $50,000.
Although ridership has picked up this summer, Englert said, there are no immediate plans to raise fares.
Englert said increasing the train’s speed will attract riders who now find the 2-hour and 45-minute trip to Boston too slow.
The train’s top speed between Portland and Plaistow, N.H., is now 60 miles per hour, but the US Surface Transportation Board ruled in January that the train could boost its speed to 79 m.p.h.
So far, the owner of the track, Guilford Rail System, has declined to let the train go faster. The increase in speed is now pending another appeal.
Guilford, which contends the $48 million upgrade of the track won’t support the higher speed, has lost two appeals to the US Surface Transportation Board. Now it contends the board does not have jurisdiction.
Higher train speeds will reduce the trip-time to Boston by at least 11 minutes, Roy said, and some scheduling changes might trim off several more minutes.
Wayne Davis, chairman of Train Riders Northeast, said the train’s current 60 m.p.h. limit presents a perception problem.
”Sixty miles per hour is not exciting to people,” he said. ”But you tell them 80 miles per hour, they say, `wow.’ When we get to 80, we will develop a whole new constituency.”